BUAD 400: Strategic Management Report - Dollar General Case Study

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Dollar General's strategic management. It begins by defining strategy and discussing its significance for business organizations. The report then outlines the steps of the strategic planning process, followed by an examination of Dollar General's competitive advantages, particularly its employees, technology, and customer satisfaction. An in-depth analysis of the retail industry, where Dollar General operates, is also provided, highlighting key trends and competitive landscapes. Finally, the report offers specific recommendations to Dollar General's upper management, focusing on employee development, customer understanding, cash flow management, inventory control, loyalty programs, and customer engagement through CRM systems. The report concludes with a list of references in APA format.

Running head: STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
Strategic Management
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Definition of the term Strategy:.......................................................................................................2
Significance of Strategy in the Business Organization:..............................................................2
Steps of the Strategic Planning Process:..........................................................................................3
Competitive Advantage of Dollar General:.....................................................................................4
Industry in which Dollar General is Functional:.............................................................................5
Recommendation to Dollar General’s Upper Management:...........................................................6
References:......................................................................................................................................8

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Definition of the term Strategy:
The strategy is a specific type of term which is used for defining an action plan so that a
long term goal or an overall aim can be achieved properly. The strategy can be considered as
some actions that are initiated by the managers to fulfil one or more than one goals of the
organization (Strategy, 2017). In several of cases the strategy is also considered as general
direction set for an organization so that the organization can achieve its desired state in the near
future. Strategies can be extracted from a detailed strategic planning process.
Significance of Strategy in the Business Organization:
In the aspects of business, the term ‘Strategy’ is actually considered as business strategy.
Business strategies are crucial for the business organizations due to various of reasons. One of
the important strategy is the guide. If the strategy of the business is defined properly then it will
be offering a proper guidance regarding how the business is performing internally. Also, how the
business can remain stable in the future is also guided. Trends is also important for the business
organizations. Proper business strategies are capable of identifying the opportunities and the
trends in the future. This is actually very much important for the businesses organizations to
function properly. Thus, strategies plays an important role within the business organizations.
Proper type of business strategy also implements direction and vision for the overall organization
(Chang, 2016). For the businesses it is crucial that all the peoples in the organization is having
appropriate goals and following the organizational goals. In this way the objectives of the
businesses can be fulfilled effectively. Thus, it is important for the businesses to have appropriate
type of strategies for their business. Also, having appropriate strategy for the organization
provides competitive advantages for them. Proper strategy will develop competitive advantages
for the organization and will help the organization to learn more about themselves. In this way,

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the business processes of the organizations will be improved which is important for each and
every organizations. Thus, for all the above reasons having proper strategies for the business
organizations is very much important.
Steps of the Strategic Planning Process:
In the current aspects there are mainly five steps are associated with the strategic
planning process of the organizations. The five steps of formal strategic planning process are
discussed in the following section.
 The first step for the strategic planning process is selecting the important corporate
missions and corporate goals. In this step it is selected that which team or who will be
associated with the planning process. Also, all the required information is gathered in this
step. Here, it is important to ensure that all the gathered information are up to date. Also,
some specific issues are identified and addressed in this case.
 The next step for the strategic planning process for the organization is analysis of external
competitive environment for the organization (Investor.dollargeneral.com, 2019). This
step also deals with the identification of opportunities and the threats for the organization.
In this aspect also a clear image for the success of the organization is also prepared.
 Next step for the development of strategic planning process is analysis of the internal
operating environment of the organization. In this aspect, the main aim of analysing the
internal operating environment of the organization is identification of the weakness and
the strengths of the organization.
 The next step in this case, is associated with the development of the strategies. In this
aspect important strategies are selected which are built on strengths of the organization.
Through this weaknesses present within the organization will be corrected so that

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advantages can be taken of the available external opportunities
(Investor.dollargeneral.com, 2019). In this way external threats present for the
organization can be also countered. While the strategies are being developed or selected
some important criteria need to be considered. First, all the selected or the developed
strategies need to be consistent with the major goals and the missions of the organization.
Also, these strategies must be constitute and congruent a viable type of model for
business.
 The last stage of strategic planning process model is related with the implementation of
the strategies. In this stage all the identified strategies for the business are implemented
within the organization by following an appropriate way.
Competitive Advantage of Dollar General:
In a business context, the competitive advantage can be considered as a specific type of
attribute which enables the organization to outperform the other market competitors of it. In
current business model of Dollar General the competitive advantage for them is their own
employees (Investor.dollargeneral.com, 2019). This business model also sees utilization of the
technologies and the satisfaction of the customers as competitive advantage. These three aspects
actually treated as competitive for the Dollar General. For these identified aspects there are some
important factors need to be considered. In the following section five important factors related
with the competitive advantages are described.
 As employees of the Dollar General is one of the competitive advantage of them it is
important to always properly invest on them. Proper trainings should be provided to them
periodically.

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 Another important factor is ensuring that employees are always getting appropriate
resources so that they can work efficiently. Without proper resources it is very much
natural that the employees will become inefficient in nature.
 Also, proper working environment must be created within the organization to achieve the
employees as a competitive advantage (Investor.dollargeneral.com, 2019).
 As new technologies will be implemented in the organization, it is important to check the
viability of the technology in the organization and with proper training of the employees
is also an important factor as they need to be familiar with this new technology.
 As satisfaction of the customers is a competitive advantage another important factor in
this case is knowing the customers in a proper way and providing proper response
towards them.
Industry in which Dollar General is Functional:
The Dollar General Corporation is currently delivering values to their customers by
helping them to save their precious time. Currently, Dollar General is consisting 12,483 stores
and operating in 43 states as per the reports of January, 2016 (Investor.dollargeneral.com, 2019).
This organization is actually functional in retail industry and they are very much famous in this
industry as provides large amount of discounts on their products. The general understanding of
this type of retail industry elaborates that this type of industry is related with the process of
selling consumer services or goods through various of channels so that organizations can
generate satisfactory revenue (Investor.dollargeneral.com, 2019). This industry actually fulfils
the demands of the market and appropriate supply chain is used in this case so that market
demands can be delivered to the consumers. For running the modern day retail business it is
important to make several of strategic level decisions. This type of strategic level decision

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includes the market that need to be served, the store types, optimal assortment of the products,
supporting service and the customer services.
From the analysis of this industry it has been assessed that the current retail industries are
consisting a continuous increasing competitive landscapes. In the current aspects it is very much
important to provide first rate services to the customers and with that it is also important to
provide them an integrated experience of shopping. From the case study of the Dollar General it
has been also assessed that providing discount is one of the most important factors to attract the
customers (Investor.dollargeneral.com, 2019). The Dollar General is properly implementing this
discounting factor and other important factors such as improved customer satisfaction. All of
these factors has made Dollar General a market leader in the retail industry.
Recommendation to Dollar General’s Upper Management:
In the current aspects Dollar General is executing within the retail sector and performing
very well. They are very much focused on their employees and has converted them in a
competitive advantage. Though current performance of the Dollar General in the retail industry
is very good some important recommendations can be provided to the upper management of
Dollar General so that they can execute more efficiently. The following recommendations are:
 Employees of the organization must know their own roles deeply. If the organizational
employees are not knowing their business role they will not be able to function properly
for the business objective.
 Understanding of the customers is also recommended in this case. Here, it is important to
know the types of the customers and demands of them. This information will help Dollar
General to improve their retail business process.

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 In the retail business it is essential to manage the flow of the cash. Thus, it is
recommended to Dollar General to ensure proper cash flow for improving the business
procedures.
 Here, it is also recommended to the Dollar General to control the inventory in a proper
way. For the retail business management of the inventory is crucial to serve the market
properly. For this an inventory management system can be implemented which is also
recommended in this case.
 Providing appropriate discounts is very much helpful in this case and Dollar General has
implemented it properly. With the discounts it is also recommended to start a loyalty
program for the customers as it will attract new customers and the overall sales rate will
be improved.
 Engaging with the customers is also very much important in the retail business processes.
For this reason it is also important for the Dollar General to engage with their customers
properly. For this reason it is recommend to implement a customer relationship
management system which will effectively help to manage the customers.

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References:
Chang, J. F. (2016). Business process management systems: strategy and implementation.
Auerbach Publications.
Investor.dollargeneral.com. (2019). [online] Available at:
https://investor.dollargeneral.com/static-files/5f6b005c-79ff-4dbd-bf09-a3044d422025
Strategy, B. (2017). Business Strategy. MARKETING, 1(2), 3.