Business Essay
Business Essay
Introduction
Implementing a corporate strategic plan is one of the most crucial processes in the life cycle of an organization. Mainly, it involves undertaking process and procedures aimed at achieving the objectives and goals formulated in the strategic plan (Sage, 2016). This paper will analyze some of the important aspects of a corporation, including stages in a corporation life cycle, strategy implementation, strategy-culture compatibility in implementing the new strategy as well as the implementation of Six Sigma. Principally, the paper will draw from the Queens hotels, one of the hotel companies Long Island City that have successfully implemented its strategic service delivery plan.
The Start-Up Phase
The start-up stage is the initial phase where a corporation is in its infancy. At this stage, a management group is created and the business plan is formed. The company incorporates a focused strategy to create an awareness of the new unique service to a small group of potential customers.
The Growth Phase
At the growth phase, a corporation aims to differentiate itself from its major competitors within the industry. It incorporates financial structures to boost its services through marketing efforts. In Queens Hotels, the management established new policies and more funds to add more rooms and facilities required by demands in the market (Fickenscher, 2015).
Maturity
Noticeably, as the corporation approaches maturity, the curve of its life cycle indicates a slow growth and becomes constant. At this stage, the company has expanded its sales and earnings. The marketing strategy remains strong to maintain its uniqueness different from other competitors.
How can a corporation's life cycle be extended?
Ideally, managing the efficiency of a corporation is an essential way to extend the stage of maturity. Besides, improvements in production through technology and automation are efficient to prolong the life cycle and efficiency. To ensure the extension of the growth stage and boost the corporation profits, a corporation can also expand into new markets in other regions.
What is strategy implementation? What questions must strategy makers consider to begin the implementation?
Strategy implementation refers to the process where strategies and policies incorporated are put into actions through procedures, budgets, and programs. Strategy implementation integrates all activities required to execute a strategic plan (Sage, 2016). Before the process of implementation, strategy makers have to consider the following questions:
Who are the human resources to carry out the strategic plan?
What should be done to arrange the new operations in the strategic plan?
How are the operations to be coordinated?
What are some of the approaches a company can take to identify and prepare its people for important positions?
A crucial approach that a company can apply is a reliable and efficient performance appraisal system. With this system, a company can identify the hard working employees. Besides, a company can apply assessment criteria to evaluate the ability of a person for a suitable position. Moreover, it can integrate special interviews, exercises, oral presentations, and case analyses to evaluate the potential of the employees (Wheelen, et al., 2015).
Do you think that culture follows strategy, or does strategy follow culture?
The debate on the influence of strategy and culture in organizations has increased significantly and no specific research affirms on which aspect influence the other. Nevertheless, it has been apparent that the culture of an organization influences its ability to formulate and implement its strategy. Notably, the strategy of an organization cannot be accepted firmly if the culture is not first incorporated. For instance, in Queen’s hotel, the management had to accept and incorporate the culture of the customers and society to implement a strategy geared at boosting service delivery. Fundamentally, to apply influential strategies in the delivery of services, the hotel had to integrate a leadership culture of commitment and loyalty based on ethical decisions and sound morals.
What is Six Sigma? Why would a company want to implement it?
Six Sigma is a structured methodology and management system that is applied by organizations to understand and manage customer requirements. It utilizes thorough data analysis to align key processes of an organization to ensure achievement of those requirements (Copyright, 2016).
Ideally, the implementation of Six Sigma is an efficient way to ensure efficiency as well as eliminating waste. Besides, it improves processes in service delivery, reduces costs and process variability. Thus, it results in customer satisfaction and increased profits.
References
Fickenscher, L. (2014, June 15). Who needs Manhattan? Queens hotels boom. Retrieved May 30, 2016, from http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20140615/HOSPITALITY_TOURISM/140619915/who-needs-manhattan-queens-hotels-boom
Sage, S. (2016). Strategic implementation. Retrieved May 30, 2016, from http://onstrategyhq.com/resources/strategic-implementation/
Wheelen, T., Hunger, J., Hoffman, A., & Bamford, C. (2015). Corporate Governance. In Concepts in strategic management and business policy. UperSaddle River, NJ: Pearson.