Strategic Business Planning: Audit, Growth Strategies, and Monitoring

This report delves into the realm of business strategy, encompassing key elements such as strategy context, terminology, and the crucial aspects involved in strategic planning. It explores planning techniques like the BCG matrix and benchmarking. The report then moves on to organizational and environmental audits, highlighting the significance of stakeholder analysis. It provides a SWOT analysis of Volkswagen and a PESTLE analysis of the company. The report also covers various strategies relating to substantive growth, future strategies, and monitoring strategies. The content includes an introduction to business strategy, emphasizing its role in achieving long-term business goals. The report discusses the importance of mission, vision, and objectives in strategic planning, along with the challenges and opportunities that businesses face in today's dynamic environment. It also provides a comprehensive overview of strategic positioning and organizational and environmental audits.

BUSINESS STRTERGY

Table of Contents
BUSINESS STRTERGY.................................................................................................................1
Introduction:.....................................................................................................................................3
TASK1 ............................................................................................................................................3
1.1 Strategy context and terminology.........................................................................................3
1.2 Issued involved in strategy planning....................................................................................3
1.3 Planning techniques..............................................................................................................4
TASK2.............................................................................................................................................5
2.1Organisational audit...............................................................................................................5
2.2Environment audit..................................................................................................................5
2.3Significance of stakeholder analysis......................................................................................6
TASK3.............................................................................................................................................7
3.1Strategies relating to substantive growth...............................................................................7
3.2 Future strategies ...................................................................................................................8
4.3Monitoring strategies.............................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

Introduction:
Long term business plans that a company make to achieve desired results are known as
business strategy. This help a company to keep their focus on objectives and do not distract them
in any other direction with that it assist in retaining talented and experienced employees i9n
organisation. Plans of different departments may vary from each other but their main goal should
match with strategic goals. Business can be written in points format or can be in paragraphs, it
depends on targets that are to be achieved. Business strategy is made by top level management
and it mainly include planning which is done by top executives and board of directors after
which implementation process take place. Consistent supervision is done by executives to keep
the objectives on track. Normally a business strategy is made for three to five years but it can be
made for a long time, although due to technology and innovations companies do not prefer to
make plan for more than five to seven years(Ang ., 2011).
TASK1
1.1 Strategy context and terminology
Business mission and vision are the main why is a exist. So whatever plan a company
make they will always keep mission in core of it. Strategic plans may change from time to time
but their focus is always to achieve the objectives of company. Sometime when there is high
competition in industry companies lost their focus on mission and started involving in activities
which do not much relate to organisational goals, in these kind of situations objectives help to
inform business planners that they are going in wrong direction and they should utilise resources
to achieve companies vision. Objectives inform top executives to plan strategy in a way that
mission should achieved in planned time and what can be done if anything go wrong. Normally
organisational mission and vision do not change but sometime some minor changes has to done
as business environment is changing very fast, in these king of condition strategic planner need
to be inform about the changes so in future they can make a plan which do not deviate from the
purpose of companies existence (Burlton ., 2015.)
1.2 Issued involved in strategy planning
Engagement: It is analysed that now most of the plans are made by small level
executives, so proper engagement between top level management and small executives is very
necessary as it made a huge impact on decision making process and considered as one of the

most important factors affect strategic planning. Challenges faced on ground level can only be
told by small level executives as they are the one who perform in field so their views affect
planning of business. Also they are the one who knows what are the new opportunities that are
present on the ground which can exploited before anyone see it and we can exploit them.
Communication: A new research shows that plan made by departments like IT or HR do not
match with companies business strategies. This means there are severe communication gaps and
differences between firms which affect companies planning. These kind of gaps create a problem
in execution of plans as employees do not know which plan to follow and this create a lot of
confusion in organisation (Champoux and et.al., 2012).
Innovations: In this business world it is hard to survive with doing any innovations. Risk
is an integral part of innovation as, when company know to do and to do it they can achieve
desired results but when they try something new and it works even they do know what they can
achieve from it. So this factor made a huge impact in formation of business plans.
Project management: Majority of employees do not know about strategic goals as a manger just
tell them their target. So project management is some that every employee should understand as
it will give a worker about complete idea of goal and what they have to achieve. So this will
effect strategic plan as task will distributed in some small targets and new ways can be made to
achieve it.
Culture: Every organisation have some values and believe, their culture always considered as
significant factor and it always influence business planning.
Strategic Focus – Their are some targets which can only be understood but organisation
itself. Strategic thinking is examination of both positive as well as negative aspect of an idea or a
plan. It focus on threats and opportunities that can be explored by a company.
Limitation in resources – Every firm has limited resources so they have to be very careful
at the time of its utilisation. Resources should be invested in 0place which provide high return
and help in achieving objectives of the organisation.
Organisational goal – Core of all the strategies made by an organisation is their mission
and vision. Company make short term and long term objectives so they can achieve their set
objectives.

1.3 Explaining Planning techniques.
BCG is a planning technique which help continuous growth of an organisation. It assist is
giving some extra edge to the company over their competitors. Their are four parts of BCG
matrix, dog, question mark, stars, cash cow.
Dogs – In this situation company has low share in a market which grow at a slow rate. In this
sector potential growth is very limited and organisation like to reduce their investment in these
areas.
Question mark – This is a situation where scope of return in uncertain in future. It is a rapid
growing area with high need of cash.
Stars – In this category, company want more share because it is a market which provide great
return. These can be called main revenue generator for an organisation.
Cash Cow – This kind of situation is considered favourable for any firm because company will
have huge market share in an area which is growing rapidly.
Benchmarking – Company can set minimum standards which can help them in comparing actual
performance with set targets.
PORTERS FIVE FORCES: This tool analyse supply and buying power of a company which is
one the main activity that is done by a company. It also analyse competition in which they are
performing and their rivals or substitutes.
TASK2
2.1Organisational audit
Strategic positioning may be defined as the positioning of any strategy in terms of its
working, products and services, its roles and responsibilities and future implications of the
resources required at all the levels. Positioning refers to the place any brand occupies in the mind
of customers in relation to the special features of the product or service. It caters to all the
external and internal factors that are essential to be analyse for for market development and for
successful planning and eventful high level of marketing mix (Champoux and et.al., 2012). It is
related to all the strategies with which any product or service should be analysed and the
difficulties it caters to achieve reposition in it.

It is related to organizational audit in the way that organizational audit is known as cyclic
audit in which all the rounds of the cycle are reflected in marketing, revenue generating,
rephrasing and financing all the activities which can be analysed to access the growth and
development of all the brands and services needed to make them being able to achieve its
strategic positioning in the competitive environment. Being the international and marketing
oriented organization Volkswagen has been the strategic developer for various products and
services but due to its organizational audit all the internal elements that raise the level of market
for the products or services are being characterised on the part of marketing growth and
development of different types of products and services and that's being informed to analyse the
strategic positioning of the targetted audience .This will enable the organization to run fully on
strategic positioning and through the help of business and organizational growth and
development Volkswagen can achieve various types of planning, directions and other practices
being imparted to establish organizational audiT (Burlton ., 2015.).
SWOT analyse of Volkswagen
Strength –
 One of the oldest car manufacturer and still has a rapid growth in market.
 Strong R&D and efficient automation.
 Around 3500000 employees work in this company, across the globe.
Weaknesses -
 Limited presence in emerging market.
 Organisation was found guilty in a scam which reduce their valuation in market.
 Brand presence is not strong like GM and Toyoto
Opportunities -
 Inventing new technology car to target different segments.
 More investment in emerging market like India, China
 Acquire competitors in USA.
Threats -
 Strong presence of Domestic manufacturer in local Asian market.
 Enhancement in price of raw material.

 Cited company earn almost 70% revenue from euro zone which is not providing good
return in current scenario.
Volkswagen has sound financial position, they are doing various types of research and
development which is the main reason that they have many patents relating to technology.
General motors, Toyota are its main competitors, they have global presence like Volkswagen and
their financial position is very strong.
2.2Environment audit
Environmental audit can be defined as all the rules regulations, policies and ways through
which an audit can be compelled to adopt new ways and techniques for the purpose of organizing
various types of standards set up by the organizations. Environmental compliance audit refers to
compliance that enables them to analyse the standards set up by the organizations. These are
being run on ISO 14001. The Volkswagen company has adopted various ISO 14001 which are
voluntary international standards for environmental management systems. They requires various
scope and resources that can be analysed to implement these standards set up for the
organizations( Davis ., 2012). The identification of products, services, are essential for enabling
the organization to control the environmental impact of all the activities which are being
analysed and considered on the part of business development and organisational betterment . It
includes all the policies, procedures, objectives which are set up by the organization at each level
of management so that they can use these standards for future growth and development process.
PESTLE analyse of Volkswagen company
Political – They have presence in many countries, this create various problems in the
organisation because they have to follow different types of rules and regulations in more than
150 nations.
Economic – Volkswagen play an important role in economic development of many states and
countries because they are connected by various industries like steel, glass etc. and support
them by giving high amount of orders. It is always beneficial for a company to enter in a market
whose economic growth is high.
Social – Cars are now considered as a basic need of society and Volkswagen focus on selling
cars which can be afford by laymen. Cited organisation has consider religion, culture etc. before

manufacturing a product.
Technology – Volkswagen is sound in terms of technology, they have one of best R&D
department. They manufacture cars in all types of segments, this can only be done if by
innovating new production methods on regular basis.
Legal – Their are various laws like labour, costumer protection, emission, intellectual property
etc. An organisation who operates in so many nations has to face different kind of challenges on
continuous basis.
Environmental factors – Pollution, dumping of wastage are some issues which has to be
followed in order to run business without any hindrance. Nowadays people like companies who
make products which do not harm nature and help in reduction of various types of pollutions.
2.3Significance of stakeholder analysis.
Stakeholder analysis is the process by which identification is done of the individuals that
will help them to propose plan of actions that are needed for growth and development of
organization at highest level. Stakeholders are an important element of business organization as
they help the company to run its business operations at all managerial levels in the organizational
levels in the business. When formulating a new strategy stakeholders are required to make the
decisions successful and develop the organization at all managerial level so that it can run its
business operations effectually and can develop business growth with prosperity. Volkswagen
when formulating new strategies must need to analyse stakeholders from all the departmental
and financial laws and all the rules that govern the policies which are implemented at both
sectorial assistance(Helms and Whitesell ., 2013).
This is done to analyse the market for products and services and also the goals of the
company in setting the product assortment ranging from ISO Certifications that helps them to
analyse and cater the requirements of the consumers at all managerial and top level. During the
successful implication of strategies any stakeholders inputs must be taken as valuable inputs for
the organization as it can cater the organization to grow and develop on the grounds of products
and service development and with the aim of making the product unique in its all the
characteristics that govern its working structure and growth in marketing environment.

Strategic plan is a plan of action that defines all the strategies, that must be analysed
formed and evaluated at top or supervisory level for developing the products and services which
are being analysed while building any action plan for future development of the organization.
The various strategic planning characteristics that help in successful growth and development of
organization includes;-
Facts;- All the relevant facts which are being implemented in the organization to successfully run
its business operations and to evaluate its working on the part of past facts and future predictions.
When Volkswagen wants to start and implement new marketing strategy then the organization
should consider all the past facts of the company from being a better company to the new and
improved way of delivering a new business report that can enable them to effectively run
successful operations (Onkila ., 2011).
Features;- All the features which are to be added to any product or service must analyse the
consumer's requirements and then analysis is to be made so that any product or service which is
being implemented in the organization cannot cater to the needs of the consumers. This can help
the company to run and grow its products and services and also can develop organizational
development.
Elements;- All the elements that caters to the needs of consumers needs to be analysed and
catered at all the managerial and high level in the organizational level so that when an
organizational levels develop and grow then they can cater their needs to the elements of
marketing and finance, that can enable them to utilise all the resources at the hierarchical level
and can cater to the performance of the organization at the highest level in the organization. This
is the main feature of strategic planning as it creates a path for all the plans and procedures, and
then can make them successful at all the levels in the organizational levels. In order to enhance
their profit, cited company need to acquire some companies in Asian regions because many
experts of industry believe that in upcoming time this continent will play crucial role in
maintaining growth of an organisation. They can merger in the countries where they are not
performing well this will give them some breathing space and improve their financial position.
 Identify stakeholders – They can be shareholders, customers, suppliers, owner of
organisation, government etc.
 Prioritize Stakeholders – Classifying stakeholders according to their interest in company
and powers they possess.

 Understand Key Stakeholder – Financial, emotional, etc. are some of the basis by which
stakeholder can be read by an organisation.
TASK3
3.1Strategies relating to substantive growth
Volkswagen is already present in many countries by different names and brands. But still
there are some economies and market in which they are not present. Joint venture is considered
as one option to enter in new market where there are many government restrictions and
regulations. Decent growth can be achieved from this as profit will be disputed to other partner
also. Franchising is another method in which company does not need to invest much and they
can sell product easily in market. But they will not have much control on business which can be
a concern for a company( Oyedijo ., 2012). Growth options are good as company is not investing
much but still they can generate good revenue because of their brand name. Buying a company is
never a bad option as it will give some fixed assets to company and after this company will have
options to establish in a desired way. Growth can be enormous and company will have proper
control but have to invest heavy amount for single time. Direct exporting is one of the most
popular option available to Volkswagen as in this case they do not need to purchase fix assets
and follow difficult foreign direct investment regulations. Growth option is good because of less
of cost involved and higher revenue, net profit will be decent.
Some of the growth strategies are as follows:
Market Penetration – Increase in market share by enhancing supply of existing product or by
promoting new items. This can be done by doing advertising, or lowering the price of goods.
Market expansion – In this strategy products and services are offered to a wider section in
existing market. It can be also be done in new demography or geographical market.
Product expansion - It is done by upgrading or revising a product, repositioning is also done in
some special cases.
Limited growth strategy – Cited company can do alliance in new market so they can achieve
limited growth for a particular period of time. Their are some countries which do not support
entry of foreign firms, so in order to exploit these market they can choose a strong domestic
player and start an alliance with them.

3.2 Future strategies
Their are many strategies that company can adopt but their selection depends on what
business strategy company is following and their future plans:
Direct exporting can be adopted when company does not want to invest much in fixed assets like
land and manufacturing plant, so they want choose some distributor or agent who sell their
cars/product in the name of Volkswagen and work like selling, marketing and servicing is done
by agent or distributor. Proper investigation should be done on distributor as he will be the
executor of plan and can damage company's name by doing wrong act wearing face of company.
Another way is Partnering, which can be in different forms like in terms of marketing only or in
manufacturing. It new markets it considered as good option partner will know about society and
the buying habits with complete business knowledge of economy(Pugh and Bourgeois., 2011).
This method can be adopted in markets like Asia where cultural diversity is too much but
company need someone who has good contacts with everyone and have local market knowledge.
Joint-ventures is can be a method in which two companies combine together to make a new
company and than enter in new market. It can be adopted in a market where organisation need to
do some changes in their product price or quality so they can start a venture with other firm and
make different or may be bit same product
Market penetration and limited growth are strategies that should be adopted by Volkswagen in
order to achieve high and constant growth. They can do aggressive promotions in the market
where they are strong, they can also enhance supply of product so cars ordered by customers can
be given without any delay. Limited growth strategies can be adopted to enter in new market like
Asia. Volkswagen should expand their business in emerging economies by doing alliance with
domestic players so they can smoothly enter in the market without doing much investment. This
will improve their overall performance and improve their position in industry. Initially this
strategy will cost some money to the organisation but in long run it will be beneficial for
company.
TASK4
4.1 Roles and responsibilities for strategy implementation.
Role and responsibility of personnel who are in charge with strategy implementation:

It is the responsibility of personnel to make sure that every employee must know about their
targets and resources available to them. It is their duty to communicate the plan and make sure
that everyone understand it properly. At the time of implementation it is their duty to tell the top
management that what impact is new strategy is making in employees and what are some
changes ,if needed to be done. They have to play an important role at the time of execution of
new strategy as workers need some in between process and their mistakes are to checked at the
point of their generation. Sometime the task of assigning duties can be given to them so they they
have to make sure that every employee get job according to their specialisation so they can
perform well and can work with effectiveness (Ross and Blumenstein ., 2013 ). When strategies
are in process of implementation, it is considered as a rough time for workers so it is their role to
motivate them time to time.
Customer satisfaction is the main objective of the company so it has to be taken care at
any cost. Various information and data that exist is market should be analysed so proper
execution of plans can be done. After implementation, regular monitoring is necessary in order to
find mistakes that company is doing. At the time of enforcement of strategy, allocation of
resources should be done in a way that needs of every department and team can be fulfilled in
proper time and its wastage can be minimised. Optimum utilisation of available fund should be
done so maximum growth can be achieved in short period of time.
Without permission of director, approval of any strategy is not possible. Manager are
responsible for communicating objectives and strategies, made by top level manage, to their
subordinate and other workers. If structure of an organisation is complex the executions of plan
will be very difficult and vice- a- versa.
4.2 Evaluation of resources for Implementation of new strategy:
Estimated resource requirements for implementing a new strategy by Volkswagen:
Need of resources depend on business strategy so a general estimation of requirement is difficult.
To expand in new market and implement new strategy company may have to install additional
manufacturing plants so proper supply chain can be maintained and demand should met on time.
When new plan is in process of execution, at that time many works may not support it and so