Strategic Management Analysis and Report: Co-operative Group Ltd.

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the strategic management of Co-operative Group Ltd. It begins with an introduction and then delves into stakeholder analysis, identifying key groups such as customers, employees, government, and suppliers, and assessing their influence. The report then examines corporate governance, evaluating the company's economic, ethical, philanthropic, and legal responsibilities. Strategic options are explored using the ANSOFF matrix, including market penetration, market development, product development, and diversification, along with a feasibility assessment. The report further discusses resource planning and implementation, covering funding, staffing, technology, and marketing strategies. Finally, it addresses monitoring and control mechanisms, including scope change, quality control, time management, budget management, risk management, and contract administration to ensure effective execution of the strategic plan. The conclusion summarizes the key findings and the overall impact of the strategic plan on the organization.

Strategic Management

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Stakeholders analysis..................................................................................................................1
Corporate Governance................................................................................................................3
Strategic options and feasibility..................................................................................................3
Resource planning and implementation......................................................................................5
Monitoring and control...............................................................................................................6
Contingency plan and arrangements...........................................................................................7
Impact of Strategic plan..............................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Success and development of organization depends upon the degree of effectiveness in the
utilization of available resources. Optimization of resources and profit maximization are the core
requirements of organization in order to fulfill goals and targets. Organization performs slew of
duties and responsibilities to establish prominent position in the market place. Among the
different operations such as marketing, human resource management, production and other
functioning, strategic management has been the crucial element to rationalize the working and
increase the efficiency as well as productivity. The present report has been prepared to elucidate
the strategic management of an organization by inculcating different components such as
external-internal analysis, strategy formulation and overall review.
Stakeholders analysis
No organization functions in isolation, it works under the influence of many factors and
other business entities. Elements or individuals that directly or indirectly linked to the working of
organization are referred as the stakeholders (Slack, 2015). Mentioned company, Co-operative
Group Ltd., functions in a wide range of sectors such as food, banking, insurance, electrical,
travel, funeral care and legal services. Organization is a large family of employees, suppliers,
customers and other trading partners. Hence, there are many stakeholders of the organization that
are linked in one way or the other. They play significant role in their respective areas of working. Customers: Customers are the central part of strategy which is framed by the
organization working in the customer oriented service industry. Volatility in market and
its changing scenario have brought the considerable amount of change in the choices and
preferences of consumers. Their demands and requirements are becoming fluctuating in
nature. Keeping that in consideration, policies and strategies are framed with the aim to
provide them optimum level of services (Wheelen and Hunger, 2011). Employees: Employees are the fundamental pillars of organization that execute all the
strategies and policies framed by the board of directors. Efficiency and productivity level
have direct influence on the quantum of consolidation of the customers with the
organization and the level of profitability as well as revenue generation. Government: Each organization is required to abide all the laws and regulations framed
by the Government and other legislative bodies in order to maintain legality in the
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country in which it is operating (Thompson and Martin, 2010). Co-operative group ltd
complies with all the laws that are imposed in the retail sector with respect to the
consumer protect, employees related issues, travel services, financial services and related
to other working areas.
 Suppliers: There are many business entities linked to the organization. Suppliers act as a
bridge to connect producers with the final destination, customers. Smooth functioning
and preciseness directly affect the management.
Illustration 1: Stakeholder's analysis
(Source: Slack, 2015)
Analyzing the degree of involvement and placing them in the above figure according to
the influence and importance for the mentioned organization, Co-operative ltd will give the
following inferences. Protect: Consumer falls under this category as the mentioned organization's key focus is
to satisfy the needs of customers and to protect their interests. Good Relation: Relational constructs between employer and employee create a
framework for the implementation of strategies. Hence, it is essential to maintain good
relations with the working staff of organization (Swayne, Duncan and Ginter, 2012). Low priority: Though having limited domain of direct influence to the organization,
Government policies create foundation element to make working according to the norms.
 Monitor: Suppliers and partners come in this category of stakeholder's analysis.
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Corporate Governance
Recognized organized has strong and prominent position in the market due to the
frequent launching of new products, outstanding customer service and fulfilling all the
responsibilities entitled to them. Extent of fulfilling duties and governance responsibilities by the
mentioned organization is analyzed on four grounds in different aspects such as Economic
responsibilities, legal responsibilities, ethical responsibilities and philanthropic responsibilities. Economic responsibilities: Along with the aim to profit maximization and revenue
generation, organization always caters to provide the maximum returns of investment to
the shareholders. Ethical responsibilities: Organization understands the increasing awareness about health
and hygiene of persons, hence it always make efforts to provide quality foods with no
preservatives and artificial colors. In the operations, mentioned organization promotes
ethical and fair trade. Further, it takes responsibility of the authenticity and ethically
sourced food that it is selling around the Globe (Slack, 2015). Philanthropic responsibilities: Organization is engaged in the number of philanthropic
activities by understanding responsibility towards the society and community in which it
is operating. For spreading information and awareness on various grounds about many
important topics, employees of organization conduct programs at various places and
campaign. With the efforts of organization, there are large numbers of people who can
access to safe and clean drinking water in the drought prone areas of Africa.
 Legal responsibilities: Organization abides all the laws and regulations imposed by
Government and other legislative bodies in different areas such as consumer protection,
and employees related issues. Further, it also complies laws by maintaining finance
related laws while providing financial services through banking and insurance,
maintaining transparency in labeling of food products with the ingredients and
composition to assure the health and safety and other related (Priem, Li and Carr, 2012).
Strategic options and feasibility
In order to develop the function of the organization management adopt different and
suitable strategies to make the company grow at the very large extent. Adopting different
strategies results in different ways due to the differences the degree of accessibility and
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feasibility. Assessing on certain grounds and finding it favorable only make it favorable to
proceed in the way directed. Due to its nature of high utility ANSOFF matrix is used. Market penetration: With the present offering Co-operative group tries to expand the
market share by adopting methods such as price reduction and improving the ways of
promotion and distribution (Moutinho, 2011). Reaching out larger number of people with
the use of effective marketing tools is the effectual method. Market development: It refers to the expansion of the venture by opening it in new areas
or countries. With the geographical expansion of the services and products, cited
company will be able to capture the interest of larger number of people. Product development: Evolution of market in various dimension led the organization to
launch new products and services on frequent basis (Montgomery, 2011). It makes the
customers to get liked with the organization by encountering refreshing products and
services. It can be process with the proper research and development by taking into
account all the possibilities such as existing competitors, market share, external and
internal factors affecting strategies and many others. In this strategy existing products are
offered to the new market. Diversification: Total expansion refers to the introduction of new products and services
in the new market. This is adopted in the form of vertical integration with the companies
providing similar services and products. Mentioned company is operating in different
sectors hence the diversification is processed in collaboration.
Feasibility of the strategic options
Strategies are adopted by considering all the factors such as suitability, feasibility and
accessibility. It refers to considering factors such as the availability of resources, the
management operations, human resources, finances, competency with the market environment
and many others (Keupp, Palmié and Gassmann, 2012). On the basis of these factors strategies
are analyzed. Elucidating all the strategies infer that market penetration and market development
will be proved so beneficial to expand the working of organization on the grounds of revenue
generation and increasing market share.
Resource planning and implementation
One of the important components of strategic management is planning about the optimum
utilization of the available resources to derive the maximum results and outcomes. The best use
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of resources gives maximum return of investment to the organization in the form of profitability,
revenue generation, increased market share, goodwill in the market and large consolidation with
the customers as well as suppliers (Hodgkinson and Healey, 2011). Funding: To run organization effectively, financing and funding create the foundation
stone. Execution of all the strategies depends upon the availability of the finance and
capital. The mentioned organization gets finance from the different sections such as bank
loans for running established or new ventures, investors with whom organization is
having good relational constructs due to the good will in the market and also it gets
finance from other financial institutions that provide money depending upon the degree
of reliability. Cited company is running from the long time and has established prominent
position in the market by giving good return on investments. Hence, there are many
sources of money available to the organization. Staffing: Placing right person at the right place has been the essential part of the strategic
formulation. To appoint the eligible employees at the different functional areas, rigorous
recruitment methods are adopted. They are appointed according to their strengths are
functional areas (Hitt, Ireland and Hoskisson, 2012). Information and technology: Advancement of technology has bought the paradigm of
shift in the working of different operations such as in banking and retail sectors,
advanced database manage management system is used to feed data and access them in
the feasible manner (Hill, Jones and Schilling, 2014). Further, high tech instruments for
the communication is used to communicate to the different centers around the globe such
as for having meetings on virtual platform with the suppliers sitting at different countries
and parts.
 Marketing: Marketing refers to the process of communication between producers of
products and services and the customers by showcasing the offerings. Co-operative group
adopt different methods of interacting to their customers such as direct campaign
marketing in the form of telephonic conversations, digital marketing and viral marketing.
Monitoring and control
In order to execute all the process and methods in the effective manner it is very essential
to keep a check on the frequent basis and with the adoption of appropriate tools and techniques.
It includes several steps to process in the planned and structured manner.
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 Scope change management: it refers to the management of resources in the changing
scenario. Market and consumer's demand is fluctuating in nature. In order to maintain the
presence in market in the very effectual manner it is necessary to manage the change and
accordingly proceed to fulfill the needs of consumers (Hair and et.al, 2012). Quality control: Consumers are connected to the organization only in the condition when
they are provided the optimum quality of productivity and services. Hence, management
is required to maintain the quality and must always cater to improve it with the changing
needs and choices. Time management: When the slew of duties and tasks are assigned to the organization
and it is required to complete in the prescribed time frame, the proper time management
is the prerequisite to complete it with full efficiency. With the adoption of various
strategies time is managed (Freeman, 2010). Budget management: Managing financial resources according to he needs is the
significant requirement to sustain in the market. The optimum utilization of money
available is done with the help of effective tools and strategies. Risk management: The increasing volatility of market has led the development iof new
segment in the operations of organization that is the risk management section. It keeps in
consideration the changing figures of all the macroeconomic and micro economic factors
and according steps are taken. In this part strategies are framed by projecting the current
and future needs of consumers along with the effect of fluctuating parameters.
 Contract administration: When an organization is expanding in nature it is required to
maintain and keep documentation of all the departments. This section refers to the
management of all the relational constructs of the organization with the customers and
other trading partners (Evans, Stonehouse and Campbell, 2012).
Adopting the above methods of monitoring and control, management implement the
strategies and policies framed by the board of control in order to achieve the targeted goals and
missions. This enables the organization to function in the planned and structured manner.
Contingency plan and arrangements
In the existing turbulence in the market led the organization prepare with the unexpected
events and tragedies. For that purpose preparing contingency plan proves to be very helpful for
the organization to sustain in the situation (Elms and et.al, 2010). Contingency plan is the
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arrangement done in the prepared manner by forecasting the expected attacks and challenges.
With the precise and approximate projection, organization is able to survive in the situation. It
has several steps in which the plan is prepared and processed: Business impact analysis: By analysis the several factors that affect the functioning of
organization on several grounds organization enables to project the influences in can
encounter in a particular time frame. It is processed with the help of expertise and
specialists in the field such as statisticians and business analysts. Creating policy statement of contingency plan: It refers to the detailing of the steps
adopted by the organization in reference to the origination's vision, mission and other
objectives (Eden and Ackermann, 2013). Contingency strategies: This the documentation of the strategies that are supposed to be
taken at the time of emergency or crises. Crises can be of several types such as financial
crises that is the sudden breakdown of market. For that part there is the requirement of
emergency fund to run the firm. Evolution of technology leads to the downturn in the
operations and services due to the confinement of the use. Apart from these strategies are
framed in different aspects. Coordinating to the employees: It is very essential to communicate the plan to all the
employees working in the organization to make them aware about the plan B created in
the situation of emergency.
 Plan maintenance: It refers to the testing, training, exercising of plan as per the situation
and condition (Dess, Lumpkin and Eisner, 2010).
Impact of Strategic plan
Adoption of strategic plan results in the increase in the profitability and revenue
generation of the organization. Strategies formulated by the organization leads to the
consolidation of larger number of customers, suppliers and trading partners with the
organization. With the intimate research of business and the factors affecting it, organization
prepares the effectual strategies and policies by addressing all the situation aspects. Strategies are
framed by including all the components such as projecting current and future needs, monitoring
and control and the risk management (Ackermann and Eden, 2011). This enable the organization
to stand firmly in all the areas of its functioning such as banking, retail, food, insurance and
other.
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CONCLUSION
Report is prepared to elucidate the different components of the strategic management.
Discussion is made on the company's adopted methods and strategies to accomplish the targeted
goals. In this report certain strategic options are presented with reference to the availability of
resources in the organization. On the basis of feasibility and accessibility it is inferred that best
strategy for organization market penetration and market development. Further, the relevance and
utility of contingency plan is discussed.
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REFERENCES
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Sage.
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management and business ethics. Business Ethics Quarterly. 20(03). pp.401-425.
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tourism. Taylor & Francis.
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Press.
Hair, J.F., Sarstedt, M., Pieper, T.M. and Ringle, C.M., 2012. The use of partial least squares
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Priem, R.L., Li, S. and Carr, J.C., 2012. Insights and new directions from demand-side
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Online
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