Implementation of Strategic Management

Strategic management is a method that has been proposed to companies with the motive of setting short and long-term targets for the business. It is the process by which managers establish performance goals that will determine the firm’s long time direction in the light of potential internal and external circumstances, and undertake action plans. There are strategic management steps that are required to be undertaken by an organization for it to be successful. It includes development of policies and plans, allocation of resources to assist in the implementation of the strategies, planning, and organizing the staff to achieve the desired results. When implementing a strategic plan, it is necessary to consider that its success is dependent on measurement and evaluation efforts during and after the implementation stage.

Strategic planning is a combination of ways how programs can be implemented and formulated. It usually involves a management activity of the highest level in an organization. The management headed by a chief executive officer performs a both internal and external situational analysis, and upon the assessment, the organizational objectives are set. It entails crafting of the vision and mission statements that show the long term view of the future of the company and the role it gives itself in the society. The corporate, financial, strategic and financial aims are set at this point and should align with the situational analysis of the company. Strategic management involves deciding where the company is now, outlining the expected future directions, and developing the action plan on how to reach them. The allocation of sufficient resources such as finances, personnel, time, and technological support is necessary in creating a functional structure. This essay seeks to prove that measurement and evaluation efforts strategies should be adopted by large companies, as, for example, Dish in order to fulfill the aims envisaged in the strategic management plan.

Barriers in the Way of Less Successful Strategies

Successful implementation of a strategic management plan is highly dependent on measurement and evaluation during and after the realization phase, because it helps an organization to focus on the changes that might affect it both positively and negatively. Dish Company has been one of the largest network providers in the United States, and has been flourishing over the last years because of the network provision services. When it launched the satellite network, the profitability levels were quite high. By then, the web services were not common. Lack of measurement and evaluation after the implementation phase is what prevented the company from taking note of the movement from the TV-payments made by the consumers to the web-based services which became a threat to the firm, making it face the risk of becoming irrelevant in the market.

Evaluation and measurement could have helped the company to adjust to the rapidly changing technology and embrace Internet services, since it was what the customers needed. The satellite television is what allowed people to access expanded television service that was unavailable through terrestrial networks. The transfer to the Internet-based programming has created a need for the companies to look for other ways of remaining relevant, which involved an adjustment of the strategic plan and its evaluation in order to stay competitive in the market. One of the strategies that did not work for the company included the pruning of the marketing budget aimed at the low-income subscribers in favor of those, paying higher premium. This was done as a way of bringing in more revenue in the light of tough economic times. It implies that the company was trying to change its promotional strategy to gain more customers from the upper economic class who could be using network service of the competing providers (Burgelman, Christensen, &Wheelwright, 2004).

Success of the strategic management plan is really dependent on the evaluation and measurement as it enables the company to realize when a strategic plan is relevant and working for the company and when it is not. The marketing policy adopted by the company had a negative impact on the customer base and reflected a sub-optimal strategy. The reason for it is that the American economy consists of low-income earners. The move has affected the customer base of the company as it missed the opportunity of attracting more low-budget clients. The increase in customer numbers reduced since 2009 due to the economy crisis. In the fourth quarter of 2010 alone, 156.000 subscribers were lost. Market research has revealed that the highest brand loyalty is usually found among the low-income consumers. The move failed to see the potential customers among the children of low-wage earners in future. The strategy was discriminatory and made the company lose many clients. The company should have considered an opportunity of providing more programs, targeted at the low-income earners as a way of encouraging them to become loyal customers (Burgelman, Christensen, &Wheelwright, 2004).

It is through evaluation and measurement that a company is able to maintain a successful strategy implementation plan. The corporation has a negative reputation for its customer employee relations (Afuah, 2003). The employees have a huge responsibility of managing many subscribers, and it leads to the problem of understaffing. The company has been losing its clients to the cable companies that have introduced fiber services to the homes. The customers are unsatisfied with the arguments between the network providers and the company over the delivery fees, because they make some channels be off the network for a long time. The employees work long hours and have fewer holidays. Due to this fact they are exhausted and less efficient in their service delivery. The overtime work is mandatory and the schedule is inflexible. It makes the employees discontented and probably affects the service level and customers’ satisfaction. The company seems to prioritize sales over quality service. The roots of the bad strategies’ implementation can be traced to the corporate policy that was geared towards the increase in profitability as opposed to customer service (Pearce & Subramanian, 2000).

Strategic Evaluation Efforts Necessary to Monitor Progress at Dish Company

Strategic evaluation efforts are necessary for maintaining progress at Dish Network Company. The company has faced competition from the increasing membership rates of the online TV providers and needs to evaluate its strategies. These providers offer cheaper services but cannot guarantee as much quality as the Dish Company can. Dish has all the features of an online provider and should use this as a competitive edge. The new positioning in the market should revolve around getting the attention of the TV viewers by reducing the down time they have regardless of their location. The company can change its advertising strategy and create promotional messages that portray the company as a stress free and steady provider of television experience. This creation of strategic messages on the various contact points between the digital platforms and the clients is critical (Afuah, 2003). The contact points should concentrate on channels such as emails, social media, online public relations and associate marketing.

The company should also consider assigning the specific tasks to the particular persons in the marketing department to attract the clients. The results of the change in the promotional strategy should be monitored, compared to the bench marks and best practices and evaluated according to the efficacy and productivity of the process. The company should control the variances when implanting the strategy and making the adjustments to the process. The implementation of the policy should involve acquisition of the necessary resources, process testing, and integration with the existing strategy. The strategic implementation for the company should revolve around branding and marketing of the products with a view of enhancing the customer base. The other strategy involves high-quality customer service. Dish Company has over fourteen million subscribers. The way the consumers are treated determines whether they will remain loyal to the company or they will leave. The mode an employee is treated shapes the efficiency of the service delivery to the clients (Afuah, 2003).

The company should strategize on improving the working conditions of the employees to align with those, set by the labor relations regulations. The workers should be well remunerated and trained to embrace team work and feel a part of the organization in order to work towards a common goal. The company should change its strategy focus from capitalizing towards satisfying the needs of the consumers through introducing the exemplary customer service. The shift towards customer service will be a good strategy for increasing profitability and customer base since it will promote brand loyalty and encourage the satisfied customers to bring more new clients (Burgelman, Christensen, &Wheelwright, 2004). The company should use the integrated marketing communication as a key competitive advantage, which can help to increase sales and profit while saving the time, money, and nerves, as well as promote good customer service. It positively impacts on creativity and provides a model that helps the business to make marketing communication client-oriented.

How Measurement of Implementation Processes Help Assure Success?

Measurement of implementation process assures success as it helps the organization to know the accomplished results. It focuses exclusively on the outcomes: the achievement of goals, objectives, and targets, which enables the organization to detect errors and establish ways of correcting them. Measurement of the implementation process guarantees a success by ensuring that means, needed for the achievement of specific ends in terms of inputs, acquisition of resources and processes, are working for the organization. It also assures the accomplishment of the aims because the organization professes itself as a combination of principal and peripheral constituents that include a multifaceted set of controls, objectives and referents. This strategy helps the company to work towards the achievement of the standards, set out in order to score the target goal on the measurement standards. Measurement enhances success as it gives the employees and the managers the impetus to work towards a goal to pave the way for the effectiveness and long-term functioning of the organization by meeting the needs of the stakeholders (Pearce & Subramanian, 2000).

How the Evaluation Process Helps to Assure Future Success?

Within the context of an entity’s evaluation process, management evaluates strategic objectives to see if they are aligned with the objectives, characterisctic for the enterprise. Evaluation process assures future success by identifying and assessing events that could affect the achievement of the aims, positively or negatively. This analysis helps the organization to mitigate and manage any risk that may be a threat to the fulfilment of the goals of the strategic plan. The evaluation process guarantees prosperity as it helps to understand the nature of the organization performance and productivity, to improve the weak points, and to change the methods in order to achieve the desired results. The evalution strategy benefits the management by providing it with an overview of events that can inluence the company’s performance. It helps to make decisions in a prompt manner for the advantage of the firm.

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Conclusion

In conclusion, the successful implementation of the strategic management plan greatly depends on measurement and evaluation efforts during and after the implementation phase as they provide the way forward, as well as help in detection of errors and areas, which require change. Strategic evaluation and implementation is a proactive approach by which organizations will be able to achieve their aims, because better decisions will be made. Evaluation and measurement should, therefore, be a part of every strategic management plan and be done on a regular basis.

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