Free Case Study On Stage 1: Business Environment Analysis

Introduction

Five Forces Analysis
There are some factors outside the industry where UMUC Haircuts operates that influence the nature of competition among the different competitors. The following table explains what each force means to UMUC Haircuts, assesses their impact on it and states whether it should affect Myra’s operational effectiveness strategy for a competitive advantage.

Justification of Selected Strategy for Competitive Advantage

The five forces model helps businesses assess the nature of their industry’s competitiveness and develop corporate strategies accordingly (Porter, 2008). The operational effectiveness strategy is appropriate for UMUC Haircuts because it would allow it to maximize the use of its inputs by offering services at a faster pace than its competitors. In addition, this strategy would help UMUC Haircuts work smarter by keeping up with the current technology. Moreover, the strategy is appropriate for the business since it would help it manage its inventory well. As explained in the case study, Myra is concerned about maintaining a sufficient stock of supplies. The operational effectiveness strategy would help Myra work out the most economical quantities for the business orders while making sure that they meet the demand of their customers. Ideally, this strategy would facilitate the keeping of accurate stock records.
What’s more, the operational effectiveness strategy would improve the functional performance of UMUC Haircuts. By the use of this strategy, Myra would lead and control the functional activities within her business, measure and enhance the processes for which each employee is responsible, and leverage those enhancements for improved functional effectiveness. Each of the five forces analyzed above would have a positive impact on the operational effectiveness strategy selected by the business since Myra, and her employees would do their best to perform similar activities better than the competitors. In fact, the above results from all the five forces would make Myra and her employees work hard to enhance the way in which they execute all the internal business processes so that they will perform better than the business rivals.

Business Process

The improvement of employees and customers’ scheduling is related and supports the operational effectiveness strategy selected by Myra. The two are related because they entail the internal process of the business. The improvement of the employees and customers’ scheduling would help in saving the business resources and time (Kerzner, 2013). As a result, this would facilitate the improvement in the manner in which UMUC Haircuts’ employees execute the internal business processes. Ultimately, the business would perform similar activities better than the competitors.
Additionally, scheduling would facilitate the keeping of records of UMUC Haircuts’ customers and employees’ actions. In essence, the records of the employees’ actions will support the effective running of the operations of UMUC Haircuts. As a result, this would facilitate the improvement of the way in which the internal business processes are performed and finally make UMUC Haircuts perform exceptionally. On the other hand, the records of customers’ actions would help UMUC Haircuts determine their wants and improve where necessary. It is worth noting that a technology solution could help improve the process of customer and employee scheduling. It could help in saving the resources and time when there are excessively many employees and customers for the business to handle. In addition, a technology solution could help reduce the errors within the business.

References

Porter, M. E. (2008). The five competitive forces that shape strategy. Harvard business review, 86(1), 25-40.
Kerzner, H. (2013). Project management: A systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.