Microsoft Word - T1_2018_MIS712_Arunan_assign2.docx 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Summary ........................................................................................... XXXXXXXXXX3...

Case study


Microsoft Word - T1_2018_MIS712_Arunan_assign2.docx 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Summary .............................................................................................................. 3 Current Strategies Assessment ............................................................................................. 4 New Strategies……………………….………………………………………………………………………………………..4 Recommendations…….…………………………………………………………………………………………….……….9 References……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..10 3 Executive Summary Slices is a home-grown food and beverage company which was started in 2012 with an aim of promoting a healthy and nutritious eating habits among the people living in UAE. It took its form through four Emirati friends. The first retail store was opened in Abu Dhabi and garnered a very positive response. They also initiated the School Food Program aiming at promoting the healthy eating habits right from the students’ section of population. However, now the time has come for Slices to expand their business more and take up more contracts from various schools and government bodies. The board of directors have now decided to adopt the franchising model to set up their retail stores in Dubai and then in the other Emirates of UAE. Based on the performance and success of it, Slices will eventually look to start their ventures in other Gulf countries like Kuwait, Qatar who face the problems similar to UAE in unhealthy eating habits. Current Strategies Assessment Slices took its existential form with the major focus on providing a variety of healthy foods at an affordable price. Following are the points that gives an overview of the company’s current positioning: • Slices took its existential form through four Emirati friends; • It was first established in Abu Dhabi and has four outlets and two catering contracts; • They have earned a positive reputation in Abu Dhabi so far; • They identified the necessity for bringing in the healthy eating habit into the people of UAE which is touted as 5th fattest nation in terms of obesity; • They are financially aided by Khalifa Fund which supports young Emiratis in Industrial and Service sectors; • It primarily aims at executives and students with healthy and quick food; • It launched its first School Food Program with Brighton college with an in-house catering services for the students; • Slices has an organization structure which consists of a General Manager under whom there are 35 employees and 16 working in the kitchen; • Slices take pride in delivering only high-quality products and also the fresh stock of foods with a maximum shelf life of 24 hours; • They also maintain a policy of using the materials and produces only from the local farmers and distributors; • It lays emphasis in high-quality customer service by continually monitoring the operations and performances; • Slices look to maintain a close relationship with its vendors to ensure the values shared are common throughout and do not deviate away from them; • Slices have a couple of initiatives towards the betterment of the people. A part of it is to donate the unsold food to charities. Also, they instil the healthy eating habits right from the school going kids; • They have created a set of Employee values to ensure all of them share the same motive while rendering the operations; 4 • Slices hold a competitive advantage through its unique approach to its business like being charitable and concerned about the lifestyle of people; • Slices have earned a revenue of AED 1,617,654 from its Al Mamoura branch in the period of January to September, 2012; • They started the delivery service since April month. It recorded the highest revenue in the month of September and lowest in July; • The total overall revenue also saw the maximum spike in September month since the start of operation, • Slices now aim to expand their business to various locations and also to either adopt branching or franchising method to spread. New Strategies We have deployed a roadmap for implementing the new strategy. It has 9 parts to it and we will be having a look at all of them. 1. Vision: Slice’s mission is to continually deliver a very high-quality, healthy and fresh food at a reasonable price which could be afforded by every section of consumers. We aspire recognised as a popular brand across the globe by breaking the barriers of borders, language, culture and which strives for the betterment of people’s health and a strong value in the society. We also keep pursuing the charitable goals like No Food Goes To Waste and encourage the same among the public. 2. Objectives: The objectives of Slices could be broadly classified as following: • To open 4 new retail stores in and around prime locations of Dubai in next two years; • To secure at least 10 more school and university catering contracts in next one financial year; • To record a total revenue of not less than 5 million AED in the next three years; • To secure at least one Government contract in next 6 months, • To expand the business outside UAE open a retail store in Kuwait and Qatar by the end of 2018. 3. Value Creation: For a long-term benefit to all the involved stakeholders, it is important to the have a set of right and measured values which should ideally be aligning with the strategies of an organization. As per the Value Proposition devised by Treacy and Weirsema, there are three different value aspects which a business could look to incorporate for the sake of gaining a competitive advantage. The three disciplines are – Operational Excellence, Product Leadership and Customer Intimacy. The option of choosing the path of propositions determine the future footpath of a business towards its positioning in the market and among the public. Given that Slices is an organisation which is still relatively a new brand and must impose themselves in the market more as the time passes, it is important that they touch upon the bases of all the three propositions at some level. We recommend the below shown model which is more inclined towards Product Leadership and Operational Excellence. The aspect of Customer Intimacy is touched upon lesser albeit it is crucial for 5 Slices as one of the important missions is to increase the brand awareness and extend its operations beyond the current setup for which a good customer base and relationships form a strong basis. As you could see from the above figure, it is shown that Slices are to adopt a strategy which has more inclination towards Operational Excellence and Product Leadership. We will look at the values that will be covered under each discipline: • Product Leadership: This proposition covers the points like innovation, new products, product life management etc. § Slices food items exclusively focus on product differentiation by catering only healthy foods. There are no junk food items on the menu; § Driving a healthy lifestyle by guaranteeing food items with a shelf period of only 24 hours; § A new set of innovative healthy snack items to be added on the menus of Slices restaurants in order to attract more number of customers; § Slices through their business are going through some unexplored market segments for which they are required to educate the market and potential customers. • Operational Excellence: This discipline of value is entirely based on the execution efficiency. It is concerned about offering products at lower prices, reducing the cost of production, managing the distribution systems etc. § Slices intend to add to the competitiveness by adding values through their state-of- art operations; § Reduction in the cost of input with Slices’ practice of using only the local produces to continue by increasing the portfolio of local farmers and also allocate special funds to them for the purpose of increase in the catering services and production in the future; § Slices encourages low energy consumption and also less pollution emitting technologies for the production of healthy foods; § Slices continue to maintain a certain set of distributors who share similar set of values. This ensures that there are no heavy additional costs involved in the distribution channel which would inflate the price on the end products. 6 • Customer Intimacy: This discipline is concerned with building and managing the customer base by offering more on-focus and personalised services. One of the existing features of Slices is they are willing adapt according to requirements and suggestions given by its customers on a regular basis. In a business viewpoint, this aspect is very important in tapping the new and potential customers to grow the base. But for a long-term, it is not feasible to keep changing their menus on a regular basis. They need to build a core standard once there are number of branches across UAE and worldwide which all of them should follow to maintain the brand image of Slices. However, Slices will continue to provide importance to their customers and build more relationships in the future which lays the foundation to the goal of increase the brand image and awareness among the public. 3. Target Segments: Slices have already established retail stores and a couple of catering services for schools and colleges in Abu Dhabi. Following are the points and criteria which calls for a segmentation: • Identification of potential customers; • Retention of existing customers; • Refined distribution channels; • Better branding strategies, • Efficiency in marketing procedures. Let us have a look at the customer segmentation model for Slices: As we could find from the above segmentation, apart from the executives and students