Strategic Management Report: Analysis of Alf Mizzi & Sons' Strategies

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the strategic management practices of Alf Mizzi & Sons, a prominent marketing group based in Malta. It begins with an introduction to strategic management and an overview of the company. The main body of the report delves into various aspects of the company's strategy, including different strategy types (corporate, functional, and operational), competitive drivers, and their impact on the company's competitive position, analyzed using PESTEL and Porter's Five Forces frameworks. The report also examines the internal analysis of the company, including strategic drift, mission, and vision. The report concludes with a summary of findings and references. The analysis explores the company's responses to changing consumer needs, technological advancements, and the challenges of strategic drift, offering insights into its market position and strategic choices.

STRATEGIC
MANAGEMENT

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................3
Task 2...............................................................................................................................................4
Task 3...............................................................................................................................................7
Task 4.............................................................................................................................................10
Task 5.............................................................................................................................................12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................14
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................15
.......................................................................................................................................................15

INTRODUCTION
Strategic management is basically the planning, analysis and monitoring of the various
activities which helps the organizations to meet their objectives as well as goals.
The Alf Mizzi and sons is primarily the renowned marketing group being established by Alfred
Mizzi and headquartered in Malta. It is mainly the family-owned business and thus has expanded
in wide geographies in partnership with some local companies. It operates within sales and
marketing of large number of food as well as grocery product.
This report gives a brief about strategy types in relation to organization, Competitive
drivers and impact on competitive position of organization, Internal analysis, strategic choice
models and implications of selected strategy.
MAIN BODY
Task 1
Strategy types in relation to organization
Strategy is basically the action which the organizations follow in order to achieve their
long as well as short term goals and objectives. There are different types of strategy namely
Corporate strategy
Corporate strategy is basically the series of actions which the organization undertake to
achieve the objectives and goals and for gaining the competitive advantage. This strategy
outlines the long term vision as well as create the corporate value and thus motivate the
workforce (David and David, 2019).
Functional strategy
This basically encompasses the various approaches which addresses the specific
functional area within an organization. It primarily sets a series of objectives for different
business unit and for increasing the productivity of various functional areas. In this, the
organizations develops numerous methods and thus implement them for bringing the favourable
outcome from each and every functional area (Lasserre, 2017).
Operational strategy
This concerns with the various operating units within the organization. A company builds
the operational strategy for making the effective utilization of resources and for formulating the
efficient systems in work process. In short, within this strategy, firm allocate the various
resources in such a way that it supports infrastructure as well as production. It forms the part of

the overall business strategy and thus helps in defining the procedure for manufacturing goods
and services.
Alf Mizzi & Sons has followed a well-defined strategic direction in the past which has
helped them to establish their position in market. From past few years, the main focus of the
company has been on the customers and thus has made their strategy customer-oriented. Alf
Mizzi & Sons has devised various plans like sustainability which has helped them to achieve
their ultimate goals and mission. Their past strategic direction consists of the methods and tools
like SWOT analysis, innovation which has eventually made their position stronger and has
helped them to attain competitive advantage (Hitt and Duane Ireland, 2017). From past few years
the strategic direction took a drastic turn and thus has evolved with the changing needs of
consumer. For example in 2018, Alf Mizzi & Sons came up with the new one-year plan where
their main focus were towards training their staff and making them aware of the vision and
mission of the company. Besides this, in 2019 Alf Mizzi & Sons developed a new strategic plan
where they are focussed on the achieving success in upcoming years. This is a two-year plan
which mainly consist of combating the negative image of the company and thus focussing on
enlarging the home-brand range of the company. Thus, in this way in past the strategic direction
of Alf Mizzi & Sons was only limited to the customers and making profit but over the time, this
direction has transformed. With this transformation, their strategic direction has now started
focusing not only on the consumers but also on the different stakeholder like employees, local
communities, government, shareholders etc.
Task 2
Competitive drivers and impact on competitive position of organization
PESTEL analysis
This is one of the most important framework which is being used by the organizations for
analysing the various factors which might impact their operations.
Political factors
Various political factors like tax rate, foreign exchange rate, political stability etc. affects
the functioning of Alf Mizzi & Sons. For example- Due to the decrease in tax rate in Malta, this
has affected the company in a positive way as they incur less expense on import and export of
various products. On the other hand, high corruption rate and terrorism in Malta has affected the

company in negative way as it makes it difficult for them to operate due to changing government
(Noe and et.al.,2017).
Economic factors
The different economic factors like employment rate, exchange rate, inflation rate affects
the company in a great way. The high exchange rate in Malta has benefited the company and has
impacted them in positive way as due to high exchange rate as they incur great cash inflow. On
the other hand, high unemployment rate in Malta has affected company in negative way because
it becomes difficult for them to hire the talented employees (Morden, 2016).
Social factors
This encompasses population change, lifestyle, attitudes, cultural barriers, etc. which
influences the operations of the company. As consumers have become more health conscious,
they want organic and fat free food which has impacted Alf Mizzi & Sons in positive way and
has increased their revenue ratio. On the other hand, the different and changing perception of
people for various food items has hindered the operations of company as they need to address the
cultures of every individual (Gallus and Frey, 2016).
Technological factors
The various technological factors like R & D, innovation, automation has impacted upon
the organization like the more and more demand of consumers for online products has been
advantageous and thus has increased the sale of their online products. Besides this, due to
unemployment organization is unable to hire qualified technological professionals for driving
innovation which has affected them in negative way.
Environmental factors
Different environmental factors like climate change, weather change, pollution has
affected the company in a great way. The demand of the consumers for paper packaging and
recyclable material has increased which has eventually helped the company to increase their
revenue ratio. On the other hand, high amount of pollution in the environment has affected their
products to high extent like food items (Meyer, Neck and Meeks, 2017).
Legal factors
Copyrights, employment laws, patents, discrimination laws forms the legal factors which
have affected Alf Mizzi & Sons and has influenced their operations. For example- Due to the
copyright and trademark, no one can copy or imitate the logo, products, method of the company

which have given them competitive advantage. On contrary to this, as the company operates
across the nation thus it is exposed to different legal regulation which sometimes makes it
difficult for them.
Porter five forces
This is predominately the framework which helps the organization to analyse the various
competitive forces that impacts them in positive or negative way
Threat of new entrant
In the retail industry within which Alf Mizzi and sons operate generally have high threat
of the entrants due to high capital requirements. The capital and the fund which is required for
setting up the business in retail industry is high due to which the entrants avoid starting the
business. Thus, the threat of new entrant is low for Alf Mizzi and sons (Hitt, Ireland and
Hoskisson, 2016).
Bargaining power of suppliers
The number of suppliers in the retail industry are generally less in comparison to the
customers due to which the suppliers do not have strict control over the prices. This makes
bargaining power of the suppliers much low. Thus, this low bargaining power helps the company
to achieve competitive advantage by easily switching the suppliers.
Bargaining power of Buyers
The number of buyers which prevails in this industry in which Alf Mizzi and sons
operate are considerably more in contrast to suppliers due to which customers have a high
control over prices. Thus, this makes the customer's bargaining power high. Besides this,
customer also have various options to switch to firms offering low prices hence this also raise the
bargaining power.
Threat of substitute product
In terms of the products, there are generally less number of substitutes which are present
in this industry which eventually makes this threat much low and thus is the weaker force. As
there is high differentiation of products in this industry the substitute products are generally less.
Rivalry between firms
The extent of competition and the competitor number is usually high in this industry thus
this makes rivalry factor a stronger force and is immense in market. Alf Mizzi and sons has a

large number of competitors like TESCO, Sainsbury who are constantly engaged in bringing
innovation in their products thus this makes power of rivals much powerful.
Industry scenarios faced by company
Alf Mizzi & Sons being one of the most renowned company is facing the drastic change
within the industry which is somewhat hindering their operations
Changing needs of consumers
This is the recent trend which gas took a roll within the retail industry and thus is
affecting Alf Mizzi & Sons. Consumer now wants sustainability in each and every aspect like
organic food, paper packaging which is impacting the operations of this company. Due to this
changing needs and demands of the consumer, company has made their supply chain and
operations more defined. This trend has enabled Alf Mizzi & Sons to ficus on sustainability and
work towards the welfare of environment and society.
Technological advancements
This is the one of the important and remarkable trend which has revolutionized the
company and thus has affected it. Retail industry is generally known by the name technology-
oriented because the organizations are continuously engaged in using technology like digital
marketing for reaching consumers. This has allowed Alf Mizzi & Sons to make their digital
platform more advanced in order to gain the competitive advantage.
Task 3
Internal analysis
Strategic drift is basically the gradual decline as well as decrease in the competitive
advantage of the organization and failure of company to respond to changes within business
environment. Alf Mizzi & Sons is facing the strategy drift to a high level due to which it has
somewhat lost its market position. There are various factors which has resulted in this drift
(Morschett, Schramm-Klein and Zentes, 2015).
Lack of management
This is the biggest factor which has contributed to the strategic drift of Alf Mizzi & Sons.
The management of the company is not well-defined due to which there is lack of effective
communication between the employees. Due to this, the productivity of employees has
somewhat reduced and thus the company is not able to respond to the different changed within
the environment.

Poor market research
This is the another factor due to which company has shown a drift in their various
operations. The company is not involved in the extensive market research due to which they are
not able to analyse the needs and demands of consumers properly. For example after dominating
market with traditional shopping basket, company failed to review the changing expectation of
consumers for the customized shopping basket where they can personalize their own items and
products to due to this they somewhat lost the market share and thus the competition (Frynas and
Mellahi, 2015).
Mission & Vision
The mission of the company is to become the foremost choice of the customers for
various aspects and thus deliver the services and products of world-class quality and achieve the
competitive advantage. On contrary to this, vision of the company is to become one ODF the
most trusted retailer and the chain of supermarkets where the people will like to shop and thus
working towards the welfare of society. Their strategic plan is aligned to the demands of the
market place and thus this plan helps them to achieve their goals and objectives. One of then
most significant need and demand of the consumers is the need for sustainability. Thus, the
vision and mission statement of company reflects the use of sustainability in event bit of
business. For example- Seeing the demand of consumers, Alf Mizzi and sons came up with the
eco-friendly packaging of products and used paper products which keeps the food safe. Thus, in
this way the strategic plan of the company is aligned to the demands of marketplace.
Company's strategic capabilities
VRIO framework
It is basically the framework which the organizations use for analysing the capabilities
that will helps them to become successful.
Valuable
This consists of the resources which provide some value to customers as well as to
company. The highly valuable resources of the company are their local food. This is highly
valuable as they are differentiated from the other companies and thus is perceived as high by the
customers.

Rare
This constitutes the resources that are rare and thus are difficult to find. These are the
resources which are possessed and acquired by only that particular company or by only few
companies. The financial resources of the company is highly rare and thus cannot be acquired or
possessed by their competitors. This constitutes their working capital and cash flow which are
difficult to find.
Imitable
Resources which cannot be or are difficult to duplicate or imitate comes under this
category. The resources that the competitors cannot duplicate are the resources which provide
competitive advantage to company. The imitable resources of Alf Mizzi & Sons are the
distribution network. The distribution network and the supply chain of the company is significant
and thus cannot be copied by their competitors like TESCO (Bryce, 2017).
Organisation
These are the resources which are highly organized and defined and thus capture value
and provide competitive advantage to the company. The brand image and the employees comes
under this category. The employees of the company are highly trained to attract the customers
and thus provide them value. The high brand image is the one which captures value and thus
provide them competitive advantage (Baumgartner and Rauter, 2017).
Business canvass model
This is basically the model and tool that helps organizations to understand the business
and thus also helps them to gain an insight of their business like customers etc. Its four segments
help Alf Mizzi and sons to deliver value to the stakeholders. The first segment which is key
partners helps the company to select the suppliers and partner who are reliable and have a good
name in market as this will attract the customers. Second segment which is Key activities assist
the company to work on activities and tasks which will increase customer relationship like
innovation. Third segment Value preposition tells the company that what needs to be satisfied
and what to deliver for example satisfying the sustainability need of customers. Fourth segment
is customer relationship helps the business to analyse the relationship which the customers
expects to establish with the company. Thus, in this on the basis of these segments, company is
able to deliver and capture the value within industry for its customers and clients.

Task 4
Strategic choice models
RBV
Resources based view is basically the approach which the organizations use in order to
achieve the competitive position. This is the framework which helps the organization about the
various resources which will help them to exploit the position in market place. In short, this
model helps the organization to attain competitive advantage and thus establish position in
market. It consists of
Tangible assets
These are the assets which can be touched and felt like machinery, building, equipments
etc. Tangible assets forms the major part of the organization which helps them increased their
revenue and gain an edge over the competitors (Ethiraj, Gambardella and Helfat, 2016). The
company have a variety of tangible assets which it can use for gaining the competitive
advantage. For adding value to their physical resources, Alf Mizzi & Sons should be capable
enough to respond to different changes in the environment. The extent to which this company
can defend its core strategies mainly depend on the level of tangible assets which they use for
various operations. For example- For bringing flexibility in the operations and for the smooth
supply of the products, company should have the upgraded machineries which can produce
quality products for the customers. The upgraded machinery will help them to produce quality
products and thus is the resource which will help them to sustain position in market.
Intangible assets
These are basically the resources and assets which cannot be seen or touched and thus are
difficult for the competitors to imitate. This constitutes patents, brand value, brand recognition
which itself are the biggest resources for the company. Even though, these assets cannot be
touched or seen, but they have a high value for the company even higher than tangible assets
because on the basis of this, customers are attracted to the company. Thus, Al Mizzi & Sons
should focus on intangible assets which will eventually helps them to gain the competitive
advantage. They should have high brand value through variety of ways like cost ficus,
innovation, differentiation (Hanson and et.al.,2016). This high brand value will become an
intangible asset for the company and thus will help them to defend their core business. As
customers have the tendency to get attracted at the organization which have goodwill in the

market and continuously meet the needs of customers thus, this brand awareness and value will
eventually help the company to sustain competitive advantage (Ethiraj, Gambardella and Helfat,
2017).
Heterogeneous
This consist of various skills and capabilities which differentiated the organization from
others. Having the different types of resources will help the organization to survive in this cut-
throat competition and would also help them to enlarge the customer base. Thus, resources
should be heterogeneous in the sense that they should differ from the resources of other firm. Alf
Mizzi and sons should train their employees in order to shape their skills and provide them the
necessary knowledge. This will differentiate the company from others because the employees
will have the required skills which the other organization cannot have. Hence, through this they
can achieve the competitive advantage. When the employees will have the grate capabilities
then they will serve the customers better and hence this will provide the organization with
heterogeneous resources.
Immobile
This is the most important assumption in RBV which states that the resources which are
immobile and cannot move from one place to another also provides the organization with the
immense capabilities to grow and develop. When the resources are immobile and cannot move
then the competitors are unable to replicate or duplicate them and thus finds other alternative in
place of that resource. Thus, this helps the organizations to achieve competitive advantage. This
generally forms brand equity, intellectual properties, knowledge etc. Alf Mizzi and sons can
follow this to defend their position and for sustaining the competitive advantage. They can
increase their brand equity by bringing innovation in products, equipping the employees with
high skills and qualities which will create goodwill in the market and thus will help them to
capture a great market share.
Porter generic strategies
This is one of the most effective tool which the organizations use for analysing its
competitive position in market.
Cost leadership
It is basically acquiring the market share by lowering and thus decreasing the cost of
products and services. This strategy can help Alf Mizzi & Sons to gain a market share and thus

they can lower the cost of their products like food items, FMCG products. It mainly focuses on
the affordability as well and accessibility of the products and thus lowers the cost of the
products. Alf Mizzi and sons can utilize this strategy to defend its core business and hence to
attain the competitive advantage. Company can in order to increase the market share target
middle class who forms the biggest proportion of the population and thus can sell their products
at much lower cost. This will not only help them to expand their business but will also enlarge
their customer base.
Differentiation
This is the strategy which the company uses for building the competitive advantage by
differentiating their products from the competitors. Alf Mizzi & Sons can maintain the
competitive advantage by differentiating their products. For example, company by assessing the
needs and demands can entered the product line and thus can differentiate themselves from the
competitors. This strategy will help Alf mizzi and sons to defend their business and hence
establish position in market. Company can besides bringing innovation can also highlight their
success story and work upon the communication strategies to reach the customers which will
eventually make them different from others and will grab the attention of customers.
Focus
This the another generic strategy which helps the organizations to gain the market share
by concentrating their efforts in the specific market segment. Alf Mizzi & Sons can adopts this
strategy in terms of low cost as well as providing best value. They can adopt the focus strategy
for serving the customers of specific segment and providing them products at low cost. While in
the best value, they can focus on designing and innovation of their product which perfectly suits
needs of customers. This, Alf mizzi and sons can use this strategy which will helps them to
explore the different market and expand in wider geographies. Company can bring constant
changes and modifications in their product as well as changes in packaging to fulfil the
expectations of consumers (Nickols, 2016).
Task 5
Implications of selected strategy
Interrelationship of marketing with other departments
If Alf Mizzi and Sons wants to expand their operations and achieve more growth in their
business then they must focus on the department of marketing and their relation with the other

departments. Coordination between all the departments is needed to maintained so that the
marketing department can successful complete their tasks.
Relations with HR department-
The accuracy and productivity of any department is concerned with the HR department as
all of them gather the experience from the training provided by them. If the department of
marketing of Alf Mizzi & Sons needs to make their team strong then relation between the
marketing and HR must be strong.
Relationship with Finance department-
Money is the basic and the most important factor for an company to maintain and run
their operations. The finance department of the company supports the department of marketing in
many ways such as providing them with the information about statistics, detailed information
about the expectations of the customers according to the price of the product. Apart from that
finance department is the one who funds the ideas and schemes of the marketing team to promote
their product through fliers, designs, logos, packages, commercials and many more which are
creative, unique and beneficial for the company. The department of finance is considered as the
backbone of the company by the team of marketing. (Rothaermel, 2017. )
Relationship with IT department-
IT department of the company is concerned with setting up their own website for the
customers so that they can provide their list of products with detailed information online. Apart
from this they also help the company to check the level of stock they have maintained and if or
not they need to fill it up. This helps the company to focus on other areas of operations.
Marketing department helps the IT department to upload all the offers which are made for some
specific products so that they can gain the attention of more and more customers.
Analysis of strategic implementation model
SWOT Analysis of Alf Mizzi and Sons-
Strength-
The company has been serving in the market for over a period of 100 years that means
they have gained their trust in the eyes of people and maintain a sustainable goodwill in the
market. The company operates in many sectors such as retail, catering and FMCG which has
helped them to made their name in every sector. Operating in different sectors makes them
diversified and helps them to maintain their position as a leader in the market.

Weaknesses-
Due to their pricing policy company is loosing their profits from a huge margin. year
2020 was considered as their worst year. As they owed a huge amount in the market to their
various suppliers and distributors. (Ansoff and et.al., 2018.)
Opportunities-
Company has a wide scope for expanding their operations into different countries so that
their performance can show a significant amount of growth. They also have the opportunity to
increase their focus on selling the products online.
Threats-
Company operates in various industries which increases the threat from many
competitors as it difficult to focus on 1 sector at a time which gives the chance to other
companies to affect their performance.
CONCLUSION
It has been summarized that in order to establish position in market, organizations need to
develop a strategic plan in which they are required to assess their capabilities thoroughly.
Various factors like political, economic, socio-cultural affects the operations of the organization
in both positive and negative way. To analyse the competitive position in market, organization
uses various models and frameworks like VRIO, Porter generic strategies, porter five forces,
RBV etc. These in their own way helps the organization to sustain competitive advantage.

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