Strategic Recommendations: Slice Food Chain E-business Strategy

This strategic recommendation report assesses the current strategies of Slice, a five-star-rated food chain in the UAE, and proposes new e-business strategies to address health issues and increase market share. It analyzes previous strategies, evaluates the current market position, and provides recommendations for international expansion through e-business. The report considers political, economic, technological, and environmental factors, as well as competitive dynamics using Porter's Five Forces model. New strategies focus on developing technologies, enhancing menu attractiveness, improving customer service, and emphasizing community values. The roadmap for e-business strategy implementation includes defining vision, objectives, value creation, target segment, privacy, ethical and legal issues, external partners, organizational model, and revenue and cost model. By implementing these changes, Slice aims to enhance competitiveness and achieve sustainable growth in the UAE market and beyond. Desklib provides access to this and other solved assignments for students.

Assessment 2: Strategic direction
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Contents
Executive Summary.......................................................................................................................3
Current Strategies Assessment.....................................................................................................4
New Strategies................................................................................................................................6
Recommendations........................................................................................................................11
References.....................................................................................................................................13
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Executive Summary:
This is a strategic recommendation report which is according to the findings in the Assignment 1
which is regarding Slice. It is a new five star rated food chain, in UAE (United Arab Emirates)
and is concerned with the health issues going in UAE due to wrong food habits of UAE people.
So, the organization has adopted new strategy through its e-business strategy through which the
problem can be solved and the market share can be attained. In this report, previous strategies
have been analysed and current position has also been evaluated. The new strategies will provide
them the direction to expand their business in the international market through e-business.
Various recommendations have also been provided which can be considered by the organization
so that the market share can be achieved and the competitiveness can be enhanced. The proposed
changes can be implemented by examining the influence of the organizational market while the
expansion of E-business. These changes will help in gaining the market share by expanding their
business in the international market.
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Current Strategies Assessment:
The assessment of the current strategies which was implemented by the Slices has been analysed
so that the proper recommendations and the new technologies can be examined. It is the new
start up business which has adopted the strategy to provide the healthy strategic food to the
schools.
To analyse the issues that where the organization is lacking behind they conducted the
PESTLE, SWOT and the Porter’s five model so that the issues in the internal and the
external market can be evaluated and the competitiveness can also be examined in the
external market. The political issues which were faced by Slice were that the government
provided interest rate at the low amount to the start-up business (Sabir, et. al., 2014). The
economic factor that could affect the business is that the company could not expect the
high margins at the initial stage as the production rate is high which affects the business
chain. There were the technological issues also that were faced by the Slices that they
lacked in the advance technology. So they made the strategy to adopt the new
technologies so that the issues can be resolved and the problems which are faced that the
inefficiency in the food can also be solved (Sabir, et. al., 2014).
The slices often get the feedback from the customers that the food is not proactive and
designed according to the needs and demands of the teenagers so for this the strategy was
adopted by the Slices to make the products by considering the changes in these factors
(Slices, 2015). By examining the legal aspect situations the Slices adopted the policies
according to the rules and regulations of the UAE government so that the survival can be
made and the better goodwill of the Slices can be established. The Slices has also
examined the environmental aspect such as the natural calamities as they have established
their business in the hot and dry area so there are chances that the food can get impacted
so they have adopted the policy of providing the organic food in the restaurant (Slices,
2015).
The Slices have also examined the competitive ability of the business in the external
market. For this evaluation the organization has used the Porter’s Five Model
(Hernandez, 2015). The organization has its various competitors in the market with the
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massive retailers in the food market and the Slices is lacking behind in the technological
changes (Sabir, et. al., 2014). So, the Slices have adopted the strategy to make the
changes in their technologies which will help them in attaining the competitiveness in the
external market. As the entrance of the new firms in the market is the biggest threat for
the organization so to deal with it the Slices adopted various strategically changes in all
the aspect (Bennett, 2017).
Current position of the company:
To survive better in the industry the Slice has the strategy to keep the few suppliers and
more buyers so that efficiency can be increased in production. Most of the younger age
group prefer the fast food rather than the healthy organic food so as Slices is providing
charity things so they have not consider this model (Sabir, et. al., 2014). This is so as to
solve the problem of inefficiency in food (Zandoval Bonazzi and Ari Zilber, 2014).
With this the Slice also examined the strength and the weaknesses so that the strategies
can be implemented according to that only. The major strength is that they have the
educated personals which will help them in better survival (Bennett, 2017). Slices also
have the opportunity to enhance the growth by adopting the new E-commerce strategies.
They have also amended the strategic business changes so that the business growth can
be achieved in the competitive market of UAE (Sabir, et. al., 2014).
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New Strategies
The new strategies have to be adopted by the Slice in spite of this so that the market
sustainability can be attained in the market of UAE. The development of the new technologies
has been done by following the proper road map for the implementation of E- Business strategy
(Bennett, 2017). This model has been chosen as it shows all the aspects through which the new
strategy can be developed in the Slices. This implementation will help in gaining the market
share for the organization (Bennett, 2017). The following is the roadmap for Slices which will
help in creating the values through electronic and the mobile commerce (Hernandez, 2015).
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Vision
Objectives
Value
Creation
Target
Segment
Privacy, ethical and
legal issues
External
Partners
Organizational
Model
Revenue and Cost
Model
Strategy
Alignment

Image: The roadmap for E-business strategy implementation
Vision/ Mission: The vision of the slice should be to influence the eating habits positively for
the next generation. This will help in increasing the market share in the long run (Bennett, 2017).
With this the mission should be to educate the next generation by providing the nutritious food to
the younger age groups by taking the initiative of enhancing its appearance so that it looks
attractive to them. This would solve the problem of Slice that the inefficient food is provided to
the younger age group (Kimes and Wirtz, 2016). By applying this as a strategy, the profits can
easily be gained in competitive market.
Objectives: The objective should be set which makes the product different from that of the
competitive product. The objectives which would help the slices are:
 Creating the menu diverse and attractive so that the youngsters can easily be attracted.
 The goals should be to offer the fairly priced and the diverse food options according to
their nutritional values (DeMicco, 2015).
 The customer service should be excellent so that rapport of the Slices with the students
can be enhanced by designing the food items according to their demand.
 High quality of jobs should be established by targeting the service employees, who can
participate in decision making by giving opportunities to the owner (Hernandez, 2015).
Value Creation: The value creation should include the values of community, social
responsibility, wellness and the integrity (DeMicco, 2015). The environment should be
developed which creates the positive learning environment for growth and interpersonal
relations. With this the emphasis should also be laid on the social responsibility so that the
society can also be benefitted. The wellness should be looked upon by providing the quality of
food to the youngsters and creating the integrity by gaining the trust with the customers
(DeMicco, 2015).
Target Segment: The segmentation has to be done on the basis of the demographics. The target
audience will be all aged groups but basically focus would be laid on the younger age groups as
these are the one who are basically be benefitted by providing the organic food items (Kimes and
Wirtz, 2016). This in turn will also improve their health and will solve the problem of
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inefficiency in their food items. This should be taken as the target audience by the Slice so that
the healthy organic food can be provided. With that the target should also be laid on the
international market as it would increase the market share for the slice by expanding their
business internationally (DeMicco, 2015).
Privacy, ethical and legal issue: These three are the basic factors which needs to be considered
by all the organizations as these are the factors which may impact the business of the Slices
(DeMicco, 2015). The privacy issues may be the database of the customers visiting the restraint
as the loss of this data may leak their personal information. The ethical and the legal factors of
the organization should be designed according to the rules and the regulations of the UAE so that
the problem of the ethical and legal issues can be solved. These issues have to be considered so
as to save from the legal issue (DeMicco, 2015).
External Partners: The implementation of the E- business strategy has to be developed with the
use of the external partners. The establishment of the startup cannot be done all alone their needs
the various external partners who will promote the business (DeMicco, 2015). The external
partners would include the distribution channel such as the retailers, wholesalers and the
distributors (Slices, 2015). The promotion of the business has to be done with the proper
distribution channel so that the business can easily be spread over. The external partners will
help in providing the training to the employees of the Slices so that the designing of the food can
be done which attracts the young generation.
Organizational Model:
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Ownership
General
Manager
Front House Back House
Chief
Executive
Back Office

Image: Organizational Structure
Source: By Author, 2018
The organizational model determines whole structure of the organization that who is in the
hierarchy and whole will be going to report whom. The hierarchical structure starts with the
ownership and ends at the executive chief (Iizuka, et. al., 2013). Ownership is like that of the
CEO in the organization. As Slices is the start-up company so the ownership is under the owner
of the organization. Then there is a general manager who is responsible for day to day operations
of the business which includes the hiring and the training of the staff members (Ziizika, et. al.,
2013). Then in the hierarchy is the front of the house that is responsible for the front area of the
restaurants. Here comes the back of hose also who are responsible for operational level like that
of the preparation of the food (Slices, 2015). The last is the chief executive who manages all he
back office operations. The role of the chief executive is to determine the price of each meal
(Kimes and Wirtz, 2016).
Revenue and Cost Model: The revenue and the cost model of hotel should be decided
according to the prices of the meal and the ingredients which are used to prepare that meal so
that the profits can be examined before determining the price of the particular meal (Iizuka, et.
al., 2013). The revenue and the cost model will include:
Revenue Model Cost Model
Life time Value: The determination is done
according to the life time value of the food.
Gross Margin: The gross margin will be
determine once the value of the ingredients
used to prepare the particular product
(Iizuka, et. al., 2013).
Distribution Cost: The distribution cost
should be taken care of while determining the
cost structure (Iizuka, et. al., 2013).
Customer acquisition strategies: The strategy
will be designed by considering the needs of
the customers (DeMicco, 2015).
Strategy Alignment: The alignment of the strategies in the organization will help in setting the
sales goal for the Slices through which the overall profitability of the organization would be
enhanced. It will also help in increasing the revenue for the business by controlling the cost
factors so that the sustainability can be attained (Iizuka, et. al., 2013). Through this the proper
coordination can be maintained through the proper hierarchy.
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Recommendations
There are various recommendations which are provided to the Slices which if implemented
would help them in attaining the sustainable success (Turan and Aydemir, 2015). The
recommendations help the organizations in improving the areas where the organization is lacking
behind and then take corrective action so that the better quality of the services can be provided to
the customers. The recommendations for the Slices are:
o The technology used by the Slices should be updated according to the needs and the
demands of the customers that are the youngsters so that most attractive food can be
provided which helps in gaining the interest of the customers towards that product (Chen,
et. al., 2013).
o The staff members should be encouraged by providing the proper education and training
to the staff members who will help them in generating the better results by following the
coordination among the members of the organization (Chen, et. al., 2013). This will also
help the Slices restaurants to generate the various positions among themselves such as the
post of general manager, production manager and the sustainability manager which will
help in managing the sustainability issues within the organization.
o The Slices should implement the programme to corporate with the social groups such as
the non- profit organizations government programmes, competitors and the high tech
companies so that the awareness can be increased about the various aspects which are
going these days. This would help the Slices to implement the strategies according to
those areas so that the change in any of these should not impact their overall business
(Turan and Aydemir, 2015).
o The strategies of the organization should be designed by considering the legal factors
otherwise the demand of the food in the restaurant will get impacted. The food and all the
other activities of the organization should consider the rules and the regulations which are
prevailing in the UAE so that the services can be provided accordingly (Chen, et. al.,
2013). This will help in increasing the sales of the business by expanding the business
worldwide.
o The people for the organization should be hired who are already ready to work for the
restaurants as hiring the willing employees will easily grab all the activities of the
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training and the chances for leaving the chances will be less. The hiring of the
experienced one help in maintain the fewer amounts for the training cost and which will
impact the overall operations of the business in the positive way (Turan and Aydemir,
2015).
o The business process should be enhanced so that the growth of the business can be
enhanced which in turn will help in increasing the efficiency of the business (Chen, et.
al., 2013). The business process can be enhanced by providing the quality of services to
the customers through the proper channel so that the services can be availed by all the
customers even at any place of the world (Porto, et. al., 2017).
These recommendations should be carefully considered by the organization before designing the
strategy so that the strategy can be designed accordingly. With this the organization should also
implement the policy of the appraisal that includes providing appraisal to the employees
according to their performance which will motivate the employees to provide the services in
better way (Chen, et. al., 2013). Before expanding the business worldwide it is necessary to
understand all the aspect especially the legal and the ethical issues of that country so that the
problem arising of the legal factors can be solved.
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References:
1. Bennett, T.M., 2017. Marketing Strategies: How Small Restaurant Businesses use Social
Media (Doctoral dissertation, Walden University).
2. Chen, Y., Ruikar, K. and Carrillo, P.M., 2013. Strategic e-business framework: a holistic
approach for organisations in the construction industry.
3. DeMicco, F.J., 2015. Cracker Barrel: A Strategic Case Study in Restaurant Management.
Journal of Foodservice Business Research, 18(4), pp.423-434.
4. Hernandez, N., 2015. Restaurant Revenue Management: Examining Reservation Policy
Implications at Fine Dining Restaurants (Doctoral dissertation, Walden University).
5. Iizuka, K., Iizuka, Y. and Suematsu, C., 2013. E-business process modeling issues: From
the viewpoint of inter-organizational process efficiency and information sharing.
Procedia Computer Science, 22, pp.820-827.
6. Kimes, S.E. and Wirtz, J., 2016. Revenue Management in Restaurants: Unbundling
Pricing for Reservations from the Core Service.
7. Porto, R.B., Costa, R.D.R. and Watanabe, E.A.D.M., 2017. The multilevel effect of
marketing activities on sales, revenue and profitability in a micro-enterprise. Revista
brasileira de gestão de negócios, 19(65), pp.432-452.
8. Sabir, R.I., Irfan, M., Akhtar, N., Pervez, M.A. and ur Rehman, A., 2014. Customer
Satisfaction in the restaurant industry; examining the model in local industry perspective.
Journal of Asian Business Strategy, 4(1), p.18.
9. Slices, 2015. Who are We. [Online]. Slices. Available at: http://slices.ae/about-us-2/.
[Accessed On 12 May 2018].
10. Turan, S.S. and Aydemir, A., 2015. An analysis of e-business research topics. In
International Conference on Education and Social Sciences (Vol. 2, p. 23).
11. Zandoval Bonazzi, F.L. and Ari Zilber, M., 2014. Innovation and Business Model: a
case study about integration of Innovation Funnel and Business Model Canvas. Revista
Brasileira de Gestão de Negócios, 16(53).
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