Innovation
Strategic Plan 1
Instructions:
Use the Strategic Planning Outline as a guide to complete sections of your capstone project each week. A final paper is due in Week 5. Cite your resources.
Write a 1,400- to 1,750-word paper in which you explain the importance of innovation in your selected business’s vision, mission, and values, and determine your business model for this new division. Include the following:
Propose a new product or service for the new company division. The division should be customer-focused with an innovative mission statement. Ensure that you are differentiating your product or service.
Describe how the division addresses customer needs and achieves competitive advantage.
Create a vision and a business model for this new division that clearly demonstrates your decision on what you want your business to become in the future.
Explain how the vision, mission, and value of the new division align with the company’s mission and vision.
Summarize how the vision, mission, and values guide the division’s strategic direction.
Define your guiding principles and values for your division in the context of culture, social responsibility, and ethics.
Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines.
Solution.
Strategic Plan 1
Introduction
Innovation is happening in today’s world in almost all aspects of life. Companies have to be innovative to be competitive in today’s market. Businesses stand to benefit when they implement innovative management styles and processes (Steiner, 2014). Companies today should seek to have innovation as their primary focus and guideline hence it should be present in all aspects of the organization. Innovation should be visible in the mission statement, vision and company values to enable it to be part of the daily activities of the enterprise.
Innovation gives business the power to come up with new ideas and products that help to give the customers the best satisfaction. The company gains a significant competitive advantage over rivals who fail to innovate. The other advantage of innovation is that it enables businesses to come up with more efficient methods of working (Steiner, 2014). Companies should conduct an analysis to find out where they can change so as to improve efficiency. This paper will look at innovation and a sample of how it applies to a company.
New Product- Fitness Mobile Application
Amur Fitness is a corporation that deals with providing training facilities and expertise to athletes and other fitness enthusiasts. Amur has many gymnasiums that serve its members all over the country. People visit the gyms and seek advice from their experts. Statistics show that a colossal number of people do not visit the gym at all. Many people are interested in keeping fit and being healthy but are not keen on visiting the gym for various reasons. The management, in its duty to increase sales, decides to come up with a product to suit the large population of non-gym goers.
The mission statement of Amur is “To be at the forefront of good personal health and fitness.” The company has to stay innovative to be at the front line in the fitness sector due to heavy competition. The management envisions a product that will be readily available to all people as well as be easily applicable. Amur Fitness has a whole new division focused on offering suitable home training equipment for weight trainers, cardio, aerobics and all other categories. The new group can reach a wider range of clientele since the products are designed to fit within small spaces like people’s homes. The vision statement “To provide the best in health and fitness” paints a clear picture of the desired outcome of Amur Fitness.
Competitive Advantage
The new division comes up with a revolutionary idea of creating a mobile application to cater to all its members and also new subscribers. The aim of the application is to provide customers an easier interface to deal with the company. They see all the products at a go, and since they are well categorized, it makes it easier for consumers to locate their preference. The application also enables customers to get help on any technical aspects of the equipment that they purchase. Some customers may buy training equipment and have difficulty in using it while others may be training in a wrong and harmful manner. Such problems are alleviated by this application since help is only a touch away. This application can be easily downloaded for free by all Android and iPhone users.
High competition is the reason Amur came up with the new division to stay competitive and make more profits. Other companies have websites to give information as well as a social media presence. Amur sets itself apart by going further to offer this application to enable quicker and easier interaction with the consumers. The ingenuity of this idea is emphasized by the fact that Australia is a very advanced smartphone market with a penetration rate of approximately 85%. The company has a huge market to tap into since people are using their mobile phones more to access the internet.
The new division that deals in home training equipment specifically targets individuals who like to train but don’t go to the gym. People may avoid the gym due to congestion, distraction lack of freedom or shyness among others (2016). This new division helps these people to gain access to easy-to-use home training equipment. Consumers are now able to train in the comfort and privacy of their homes without any limitations. The application offers everything from training routine, the positioning of the body and feeding program among others. Amur Fitness are an innovative group and hence this app is regularly updated in line with any changes and discoveries in body fitness and health. The division can stay competitive since the application enables them to reach a larger number of people than competitors who only rely on social media and websites.
The vision statement of the new division is “A fit and healthy world.” This vision is in line with the aspirations of the company. The health and fitness of the consumers are crucial to the enterprise. One of the values of the company is honesty. The company genuinely cares about the customers and always strives to ensure that they provide them with the best services and products.
Business Model
The business model considers how a company conducts its activities to achieve its objectives. The aim of any business is to make profits but the values that guide their practices differ among groups (Sadler & Craig, 2003). Originally, the company sold gym equipment like other stores by stacking up inventory in showrooms to allow customers to browse through and buy. It was a profitable model since it worked efficiently, but the management saw a niche. The new business model based on the application helps to limit the use of showrooms, and this represents a significant reduction in the expenses incurred. Instead of the showrooms, equipment can be stored in a single warehouse, and the customers browse via the application. This new business model ensures that the company can cut costs on warehousing while increasing sales by offering the app to everyone. Amur can stay way ahead of the competition while still being profitable. The company holds another competitive advantage in being the first mover. People are creatures of habit and don’t always welcome change hence the application is likely to command a loyal following even if other companies duplicate the idea.
The vision of the new division is to make the world fit and healthy. It does this by offering easy-to-use home equipment and real-time assistance and other services via the updated mobile application. The long-term vision of the company is to provide the best in the way of health and fitness. The idea of the new division and that of the company are both working towards a common goal of offering the best products and services while remaining competitive. The two visions are based on the mission of the company to stay at the forefront of fitness guided by the value of honesty to the customers.
The company’s vision, mission, and values help to guide them towards achieving their goal. The mission always sets the goals of the organization clear, and the new division is well established to realize the long-term vision of the enterprise. The values of being honest and reliable guide the company as well as the new division. It means that the application is based on well-researched data to come up with the most efficient appliances for the consumers. The company should always strive to live by their values since it is what gives the customers confidence and trust.
Ethics
The company and its new division aim to abide by the ethos of honesty and reliability that they have built a name. The objective is to ensure that the corporation always operates at high ethical standards so as to maintain good business practices.
Culture
The company continues to maintain high ethical standards, and this becomes associated with the enterprise. They form a rich culture based on honesty, and hence they gain trust from both new and existing customers. A culture can only be established by the consistent activities that the company engages.
Social responsibility
The purpose of a business is to make
profits but companies today have to be responsible for the environment they
live and operate in. The situation involves the customers, employees,
community, and natural environment. The company has a social responsibility to
ensure good working conditions and rights for the employees. The customers
should be given the best quality possible at all times without compromise. The
business encourages healthy living and holds campaigns and competitions to
sensitize the people on the practices and importance of healthy lifestyles.
Promoting healthy lifestyles might be considered as strategic social
responsibility in the case of this company.
References
Steiner, G. (2014). Strategic planning. [Place of publication not identified]: Free Press.
Simerson, B. K. (2011). Strategic planning: A practical guide to strategy formulation and execution. Santa Barbara, Calif: Praeger.
Rafinejad, D. (2007). Innovation, development, and commercialization . Boca Raton, Fla: J. Ross.
Retrieved 30 September 2016, from https://www.edmonton.ca/programs_services/documents/PDF/StrategicPlanningForDummies.pdf
Sadler, P. & Craig, J. (2003). Strategic management. London: Kogan Page