Strategic Planning and Implementation plan on the example of a digital communication agency

Table of contents

1. Introduction

2. Management strategy
2.1 Structure for integration of stakeholder’s into the process
2.2 Criteria to develop potential options
2.3 Strategy

3. Mission, vision, objectives and measure
3.2 Mission and vision statements
3.3 Objectives evaluation measures

4. Strategy implementation plan
4.1 Timetable
4.2 Dissemination processes
4.3 Monitoring and evaluation systems

Bibliography

1. Introduction

The following Strategic Planning and Implementation assignment deals with an online advertising agency, that is embedded into a worldwide operating agency network, in the following called “group”. The below developed strategic plan is designed to give a structured approach to the achievement of the company’s objectives.

2. Management strategy

2.1 Structure for integration of stakeholder’s into the process

In order how to find an appropriate way to include the stakeholders into the strategy process one first needs to define the term stakeholder as such. Hill & Jones (1998:37) provide a short and precise definition: "A company′s stakeholders are individuals or groups that have an interest, claim, or stake in the company, in what it does and in how well it performs." In addition to that stakeholders can be defined as ‘individuals and groups who are affected by the activities of an organization. The most important stakeholders can be seen as those with most to lose from the organization’s actions, but this does not always reflect their relative power’. (Hannagan, T (2002), ‘Management: Concepts and Practices’ p.142). The influence of the stakeholders on the strategy is directly related to their power on the organization and their interest in it. One can determine 4 different stakeholder groups (EC – FAO, 2009): Stakeholders with high power, but low interest need to be kept satisfied, stakeholders with high power and high interest need to be engaged closely and influenced actively, stakeholders with low power and high interest have to be kept informed and stakeholders with low power and low interest need only to be monitored. The stakeholders are defined in relation to a specific issue the company deals with. To insure an appropriate participation in the strategy process first the people and groups need to be identified that have a concrete stake in the specific topic and put them into clusters according to their level of interest and power. Than identify what impact the different stakeholders can have on the strategy. Stakeholders with high power need to be involved into the strategy process from the beginning to avoid a failure of the strategy implementation because of the negative influence of the stakeholders. They should be confronted with a draft strategy and an implementation plan to give their agreement and receive their support for the further process. Effective communication with stakeholders is essential to maintaining commitment to the program. Communication keeps stakeholders informed and hence involved in the program, and ensures that expectations are correctly managed (GDS, 2009). Stakeholders with low power also have to be involved into the strategy process, to keep them updated on the process and related changes and involve them in finding methods to easily implement the changes. The following sequence of steps illustrates the process on how to involve relevant stakeholders for the organization (Mind Tools Ltd, 2006):

1. Identify relevant stakeholders:
a. General Manager
b. Senior Management
c. Shareholders
d. Employees
e. Clients
f. Government

2. Prioritize stakeholders:

The biggest influence on the company’s strategic decisions has the General Manager who has a high interest in the company combined with a high level of power. The Senior Management is in charge for advising and supporting the General Manager in his decisions and because of that have a direct influence on the company’s decisions. Since the organization is listed on the stock exchange, the shareholder value is always in the focus of the Management and therefore the shareholders have also a great impact on strategic decisions. Compared to the above mentioned groups the employees have a rather minor influence although they have a great interest in the company. By using company climate surveys the Management Board gets feedback from the employees on how they evaluate the past current and future situation of the organization and what they would suggest for improvement. The client’s power on the company’s strategy depends on the income generated with them. Key clients can have a right to a say in a matter concerning resources, set-up of teams and units. The Government can have a high impact on the company by limiting and regulating the advertising market, but the active interest in the company can be determined as low.

3. Anticipate and analyze the likely reaction of the stakeholders to the strategy implementation:

To ensure an unproblematic process the different stakeholder groups need to be satisfied in order to not endanger the successful implementation. To anticipate their reactions helps to develop measures on how to integrate them positively into the process.

4. Defining who should participate, in what ways, at what stage of the project cycle (strategy identification stage, planning stage, implementation stage, monitoring and evaluation stage):

A matrix that contains the different stages of the strategy process and the according stakeholders involved helps to keep an overlook on all groups and monitor the progress

5. Identify reactions that may have a negative effect on the strategy implementation to take countermeasures:

To avoid obstacles that occur within the process the company needs to anticipate what stakeholders may react in a way that can endanger the strategy to develop counter measures against this. They have to find arguments in the first place to defend the strategy and market it especially to the groups that have concerns.

2.2 Criteria to develop potential options

To identify opportunities and limitations that have an influence on the company’s strategy the company can undergo different analyzing processes to make themselves aware of them. The following SWOT Analysis shows that the agency needs to focus their strategy on gaining new clients by keeping the current client base satisfied as well. They should focus on promoting their online advertising expertise and become market-leader in the digital marketing branch. illustration not visible in this excerpt

2.3 Strategy

According to Porter‘s Generic Strategy model the company pursues a focus strategy, that aims at market leaders and global acting companies. It wants to achieve differentiation by providing customer-tailored strategies and campaigns. The Ansoff Product/Market Matrix allows the company to consider ways to grow the market via existing or new products in existing or new markets. According to that scheme the company pursues the following strategy:

1. Market Penetration
a. The company markets existing products to existing clients
b. It wants to receive higher budgets from existing customers to increase income

2. Market Development
a. Market existing products to new customers
b. Gaining new expertise to develop new markets, e.g. B-2-B companies with engineering background

3. Product Development
a. Market new products to existing customers
b. Introduce new services related to online communication to clients, provide e.g. Content Management Systems

To finance these potential options the agency focuses on growth within the group rather than consider partnerships or merges with other agencies outside the group. It can put the effort on receiving higher budgets from existing clients to invest in the acquisition of new clients. To get manpower from the network to get new areas of expertise, integrate them into the agency to market new services. Another way to get financial resources is to reducing fix costs by increasingly shifting from permanent employees to freelancers and to get financial support from the holding company.

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