Strategic International Business Management: SweDigi CEO's Challenges

This report analyzes the strategic international business management challenges encountered by the CEO of SweDigi, focusing on people management issues, particularly employee resistance to change when launching a new product line. It explores the difficulties in managing employees, including emotional stability, balancing management and employee needs, and addressing performance problems. The report then outlines essential short-term and long-term steps, such as strategic planning, product planning, pricing strategies, and customer targeting, to successfully launch a new product. Furthermore, it discusses the ADKAR model for change management and the importance of selecting the appropriate leadership style to improve employee performance and overall management effectiveness. The report concludes with recommendations for top-level management decisions to enhance the company's performance.

Strategic International Business
Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
1. The people management issues that leads the CEO in facing difficulties..............................1
2. Essential steps that need to be taken by Jane in short and medium term in order to launch
the new product.1100..................................................................................................................4
3. The leadership style that Jan should adopt in his decision making process............................7
4. The recommendation on the decisions that the top level can be taken to improve the
management. ..............................................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Change management is an systematic process which helps in dealing with the
transformation of an organisational goal, processes and technologies. It helps in effective
implementing and controlling of change. The present report will help in understanding various
decisions and strategies which has to be adopted by the CEO of SweDigi. The present report is
based on the case study which helps in understanding the effect of changing in technologies in
employees and in the management skills. The report will discuss the various issues that Jan will
be facing. The short-term and long term decisions will also be discussed in launching new
product. The report will help in understanding the leadership style through which Jan can
improve the performance of employees.
1. The people management issues that leads the CEO in facing difficulties.
Introducing any technological change in the organisation is the difficult process that a
management has to done. The manager has yo undergo different challenges in facing within the
organisation in order to implement any changes in the organisation. As per the presents scenario,
Jane new CEO of SweDigi has planned to introduced new product range with better management
in company. He is facing problems in the company regarding the employees management. The
employees in the company are not enthusiastic with the new changes in the company (Carnall,
2018). Jane is facing a lot difficulties in managing the employees in the organisation.
The effective management system is where there are effective set of practices and
different processes that are used to control the organisation. Any technological changes or
introducing a new product leads to different set of difficulties in the management of the company
and the human resource. Jane is facing the problem of employee resistance with the changes in
organisation. Changes in the organisation activities will affect the different resources in the
company, like human resource or employee (Hayes, 2018). Jane had to manage the retention of
employees, in order to regain the trust of the employees in new technological and product
development change. Jane has to deal with the different problems that are arises in managing the
employees retention in organisation. There are several reasons for the because of which the
employees resist to the change in the organisation. It can be because of the poor management in
company.

There are many employee management problems which will leads to affect the Jane's
way of management:
1. Emotional stability of employees: it is not sufficient for the employees by just giving
them their wages or salary. The management of SweDigi have to maintain the proper
balance of the emotional instability of the employees. The management of company
should understand the attitude, requirement and feelings of the employees with the proper
working in the organisation . The manager should motivate them at each steps of the
changes in the organisation.
2. Balance between management and employees: management of the company are
talking decisions and making strategies of changes in the organisation. But it is also
important for the manager to create a balance between the changes in organisation and
the wants and need of the employees in the organisation. Jane required the commitment,
corporation, loyalty and sincerely from the employees which are being expected from the
organisation. But the management also understand the requirement of the employees like
better management, salaries and wages, safety and security in the by the management of
organisation.
3. Confronting an employee performance problem: dealing with the performance
problem is one of the main challenges for the manager in managing the employees in
organisation (Doppelt, 2017). The performance problem of en employee can be
prevented with the better selection practices and setting of the clear performance
expectations.
4. Setting clear goals and expectation: it is the responsibility as the top executives of the
organisation to communicate well about the organisational goals and target. With the
implementation of new product line, the manager needs to guide their employees,
motivate them about the the goals and target. The employees can be motivated if the new
plan in the organisation will leads to fulfil their personal expectation in the
Resistance to change is an common phenomena in whenever the organisation arr up to
implementing anything new in the organisation. It is a natural reaction of the employees. As per
the given scenario, the employees in SweDigi are resistance to the changes that Jane are going to
implement. As the employees are not resistance to the changes in the organisation. It has been

creating problems for Jane to implement better management in the organisation. Employees in
the company are preferring stability in their job and wants to remain in the same comfort zones.
The changes in the organisation can be better understand buy the theory of ADKAR model.
ADKAR model is the goal oriented change management model that helps in guiding the
individual and organisation change management model. This model helps in representing the
potential outcomes that are essential for the employees in achieving the changes in the
organisation (EMPLOYEE RESISTANCE TO ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE , 2018). There are
five blocks in the model that helps in implementing the successful changes in the organisation. In
order to successfully implementing a change in the organisation, ADKAR model needs to be
effectively implemented. The five elements of ADKAR model are as follows:
 Awareness: It helps in understanding that the employees should be aware about the need
make changes in the management as well as in the business operations of the
organisation. It helps the management of the organisation in understanding the needs of
the better leadership .
 Desire: It illustrate the changes which are planned to be enforced in organisation should
help in increasing the desire of the employees to the changes in organisation. It helps in
identifying the employees the benefit from the changes that will help in fulfilling their
desire. It will help the management to gain the support and corporation
 Knowledge: it leads the organisation to increase the efficiency and knowledge of the
employees regarding the new technological changes in the organisation. It will help the
management in better communicating the goal of the company and the target that needs
to be achieved with the changes to the employees.
 Ability: it helps the organisation in enhancing the skills and ability of the employees
through various training and development programs of the new predict planting (What is
the ADKAR Model? , 2018). With the increasing efficiency of the employees, the
manager will easily be assessing in managing the behaviour of the employees in
accepting changes in organisation.
 Reinforcement: it helps in assisting the management in better applying the changes
without resisting the employees behaviour. It will help in understanding the employees

the benefits and growth opportunities both for employees and organisation with the
changes.
2. Essential steps that need to be taken by Jane in short and medium term in order to launch the
new product.1100
In order to get back the operations of launching the new products efficiently, Jane has to
take various short term as well as the long term decisions. A successful launching of a new
product will require a lot of time. As per the scenario, in order to get back the product on the
track Jane has to analyse the reasons of the failure or the slow growth in the sales. The SweDigoi
plc' s turnover is declining from the past three years, the failed in the operations of the product.
The management needs to analysed the factors which results in slow growth of the product. The
following can be the reason for the failed product launch:
 The product which the company has introduced in the market has not become tested in
term of wear and tear in terms of time. The design or functions of the product are not
enough to attract the customer.
 An another reason can be the inefficient strategy of launching by management. The
different decisions like branding, marketing, promoting and the time of launching and
other executives decisions are lead to the failure of the product (18 Tips for Planning a
Flawless New Product Launch , 2018).
 Even after having a good product and right marketing decisions, the wrong choice of
market may also leads to the failure of the products. Evaluating the right market segment
nets is essential before the launching of the product.
In order to get back the product launching on track, the management has to take various
decisions which can be short term ads well as long term decisions. Short term decisions included
the attributes skills and knowledge of the employees, availability of the raw material and
expertises in creating the product. The financial planning and requirement needs to be done. The
effective short term decisions that Jane as a top executives has to take in order to launch the new
products are:
 Strategic planning: making an effective strategic planning are the most important thing
to get the launching of the new product on track. The business strategic planning will

help the team and the employees in understanding the various goal and help in achieving
the goals with the effective strategies. It helps in building the short term as well as long
term goals and objectives of the company. The management of the company has to make
the effective planning regarding the product which help in guiding a path to launch a
product.
 Product planning: It is the most important decision that has to be taken by the
management of the company. It is the job of the product manager to involve and plan
different aspects of the product (New Product Pricing Strategy, 2018). Planning of the
product helps in involving every factors that can affect the product. It can include its
design, packaging, features etc.
 Determining the price: it is the critical decision that Jane has to take in order to
increase the turnover and profitability of the company. Deciding the pricing of the
product is not an easy job. Several aspects are involved before deciding the price of the
product. Selling price of the product should not be higher than the competitors and not
too lower also (Nicholas, Ledwith and Perks, 2011). While taking the decisions regarding
pricing a new product. The management has to undertake both the internals well as the
external factors that can affect price of the product. The product manager has to consider
the cost of production, advertising cost with a minimum profit margin which will help in
making adequate return company.
 Target the customer: Before launching a new product in the market it is essential for
the management of company to identify the target customer in the market. Further, the
marketing team of SweDigi has to done the market research in order to get a insight view
of the market condition, the current trend in the market. It will help in analysing the
management of company regarding the wants and preferences of the customer. This
research will help in product planning also. The product should be able to attract the
customer in the market. The management should also make decisions in reaching the
target audience effectively.
The long term decisions will be made in order to keep the new product in the market
which should earn the competitive advantage from the competitors. The new product should
make it differentiate space in the market. Jane has to make different strategies and decisions

which will help the new product in increasing the sales and earning the revenue. Without the
long run decision making, the short term decisions will live for short term period only. The long
run decisions that will be helpful in new product development in the market are:
Product launching strategy: The management of the company should make strategy for the
effective plans after the launching of the product (Thomas, 2013). The product launching
strategy will include different tactics in order to keep the customer and the target audience in the
market segments will be engaged in the company's new product. The company has to be ready
with an effective plans and strategy to get the feedbacks and give appropriate solution to the
issues and complaints of the customer. It will help in retaining the customer's loyalty to the
company.
Focus on efficiency: In order to gain the long-term success of the product in the market. Jane
has to make the decisions in order to increase the efficiency to achieve the objectives of
organisation. Increasing the efficiency is very important in order to innovate the product with the
changes in the market trend and customer preferences.
Increasing brand awareness: It is the most important long term decisions which helps
organisation in continuous growth and success of the product. It is important for the management
of SweDigi to analyse and identifies the importance of the brand awareness for the new product.
The brand awareness is very important in order to keep engaging the customer and the target
audience to the company's product (Chang and Taylor, 2016). It can be attain with the help of the
continuous advertising and promotion of the product through various channels. Social media in
an effective way which helps in creating the brand awareness of the product.
It can be recommanded that, Jane should adopt the better strategies on order to make the
efficient management of the SweDigi plc. Jane have to adopt various strategies and make
effective decisions in order to launch the new product in the market successfully. Besides that,
There are various aspects of launching a product in order to increase the turnover of the
company, that Jane has to analyse. Further, with the help of several short run and long-run
decisions Jane should be able to keep the performance of the company on track and make it able
to increase the growth of the company.

3. The leadership style that Jan should adopt in his decision making process.
Leadership style can be defines as the different methods of the leaders in providing
proper direction, implementing plans and motivating their employees. Styles of the leaders are
different behaviours that they adopt in order to influence the behaviour of their employees with
the changing situations in the organisation (Greenstein, 2012). As per the case study, Jan is an
enthusiastic and passionate about his working.. he is an efficient leader that will help in leading
the employees and developing better management in SweDigi. Jan has been facing the trust
issues from his employees. With the changes in the production plan in the organisation, the
employees are being resisting with the changes applied. As a leader, Jan has to be able to adopt
different leadership style with the changing situation. It helps in defining its leadership quality.
As per the present scenario, there are different leadership style which Jan can adopted in
order to face the present situation in the company. The leadership styles that Jan should be
adopted are:
Transformational leadership: it is the most popular leadership style which helps in increasing
the employee satisfaction, productivity and success of the organisation. Transformational
leadership theory helps a leader to inspire and motivate the employee in order to create the high-
performance level in order to increase the efficiency of the organisation. Jan should adopt the
transformational leadership style, as the plan of implementing the new product plan has result in
demotivating and quitting of the employees. There are four approach of transformational
leadership which should be implemented by Jan:
Inspirational motivation: it will help Jan in creating a compelling vision for the future growth
and development of the company with the new plan (Yang, Huang and Wu, 2011). Better
understanding of the goals and effectively communicate it to the employees which helps in
motivating and setting up of the values of the employees.
Intellectual Stimulation: It will help Jan in encouraging the employees so that they can increase
their employees efficiency and made them to be innovative. By adopting this style, Jan can
encourage the employees in giving their feedbacks and encouraging them in giving new ideas
regarding the new product plan. Through this, Jan will be able to regain the trust and loyalty of
the employees.

Idealized Influence: in this approach Jan should have to act as a role model which helps the
employees to be influence by his performances. As an entrepreneur, Jan can easily practise what
he preaches, it will help him in gaining trust and confidence of the employees. Jan has to put the
needs of the employees before the needs of the organisation.
Individualized Consideration: In this approach, Jan should act as a mentor to his employees.
He should praise the employees for their better performance and rewards them which will help in
motivating other employees to increase their efficiency. In this approach, Jan has to treat the
employees differently according to their talents and performance.
4. The recommendation on the decisions that the top level can be taken to improve the
management.
As per the scenario, it can be said that SweDigi is facing the problem of poor
management and poor employee satisfaction. With the decreasing in turnover of the company's
profitability over the years, the company has appointed a new CEO Jan which has taken the in
charge of taking the management. It can be recommanded that as Jan should work on improving
the management skills and the performance level of the employees (Renko and et.al., 2015).
Further, it can be recommended that the improve the employee productivity, the management has
to examine their own management skills. The organisation has to work on their effective
performance management, they have to involve the ideas and suggestions of employees that can
help in motivating them. Besides that, it can also be said that Jan has to manage effective peer
reviews which will help them in engaging the employees and increasing their performance. It is
very important in order to improve the management in the SweDigi.
CONCLUSION
By summing-up the above report, it can be concluded that effective implementation of
change management is essential in order to better implementing a changes in organisation. The
present report is based on a case study, which has concluded different problem executives has to
face in introducing new changes. Report has helped in understanding various decisions which
helps in smooth launching of the product. The present report has concluded that by adopting an
effective management style, Jan can improve the employee performance. A brief

recommendation has also been included in the report on the strategies that need to be adopted by
Jan.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Carnall, C., 2018. Managing change. Routledge.
Chang, W. and Taylor, S. A., 2016. The effectiveness of customer participation in new product
development: A meta-analysis. Journal of Marketing. 80(1). pp.47-64.
Doppelt, B., 2017. Leading change toward sustainability: A change-management guide for
business, government and civil society. Routledge.
Greenstein, F. I., 2012. The presidential difference: Leadership style from FDR to Barack
Obama. Princeton University Press.
Hayes, J., 2018. The theory and practice of change management.
Nicholas, J., Ledwith, A. and Perks, H., 2011. New product development best practice in SME
and large organisations: theory vs practice. European Journal of Innovation
Management. 14(2). pp.227-251.
Renko, M. and et.al., 2015. Understanding and measuring entrepreneurial leadership
style. Journal of Small Business Management. 53(1). pp.54-74.
Thomas, E., 2013. Supplier integration in new product development: Computer mediated
communication, knowledge exchange and buyer performance. Industrial Marketing
Management. 42(6). pp.890-899.
Yang, L. R., Huang, C. F. and Wu, K. S., 2011. The association among project manager's
leadership style, teamwork and project success. International journal of project
management. 29(3). pp.258-267.
ONLINE
EMPLOYEE RESISTANCE TO ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE . 2018 [Online] Available
Through:<https://www.torbenrick.eu/blog/change-management/employee-resistance-to-
organizational-change/>
What is the ADKAR Model? . 2018 [Online] Available
Through:<https://www.prosci.com/adkar/adkar-model>