Establishing Organization Game Plan for Effective Strategy Implementation and Execution

Functional Strategies and Operations Strategy
A company establishes what functions are relevant to its effective strategic management and operations based on how these functional areas are grouped to provide the capabilities required of each function in the organization in enabling the achievement of strategic objectives and organization mission goals. Operations strategy provides the ability to improve products, services, and processes. Operations strategy has vertical relationship woth overall business/corporate strategy, and it has a horizontal relationship with other functional strategies, such as marketing, sales, finance, IT, and HR.

Functional Strategy
Functional Strategy, for any business large or small, is concerned with choices and commitments regarding resources, how resources are managed, skills and competencies of their workers and employees. Functional level strategy advocates for the business to see its management decisions as specific to a functional area of the organization such as marketing, human resources, finance, public relations, etc. Functional strategy is concerned with providing managers of functional areas the framework to seeking answers to the following questions:

How does the function contribute to the business strategy?
What are the strategic objectives of the function?
How are resources managed in the function?
What technology do we use in the function?
What skills are required by workers in the function?

Function level strategy is tactical in nature, and refers to organizational methods concerned with how each individual functional area is organized to support and contribute to delivering the overall business and competitive strategy. Each functional area, or structural unit i.e., department, division, etc., will have its own set of needs; and the company must determine how to allocate resources to meet these needs. Functional strategies help in implementation of strategic choices and grand strategy by organizing and activating specific sub-units of the organization to pursue the business strategy in daily activities. Function strategy focuses on what their strategic objectives should be, and guide how they should manage their resources in pursuit of those objectives.

Functional Tactics
These are the actionable decisions that pertain to everyday moves in functional areas in a company to improve for example, its market share, competitive pricing, customer service, sales, or other aspects in response to current real world conditions, that can give it an advantage. Tactics are most meaningful in the service of long-term goals. A tactic is an immediate action/task designed to respond to fast changing realities. They involve seizing opportunities and managing risks as they arise. Tactics involve tactical goals and objectives:

Tactical goals - These are statements of targets set that are established in response to real world conditions as they occur. Some examples include: setting new sales goals and incentives based on customer retention rates.
Tactical objectives - These are the immediate short-term desired results of a given activity, task, or mission.

Marketing
HR
Finance
Operations
Sales

Marketing Function and Strategy
Marketing is a function in a company and its role within the company is to identify and source potentially successful products/services for the marketplace the company operates in and then promote them by differentiating them from similar products. Marketing involves the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners and society at large. Marketing provides the means to persuade, influence and motivate a targeted audience and generate visibility. Marketing is primarily concerned with two things:

The creation of a customer
The delivery of value to that customer

Typical marketing function types within a business might include performing tasks such as: market research, producing a marketing plan, product development, as well as strategically overseeing advertising, promotion, distribution for sale, customer service and public relations, sales and communications.

Marketing Management
Marketing management process involves planning, organizing, directing and executing marketing strategy - the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods, and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational objectives. Marketing management is concerned with the development of policies that ensure effective implementation of marketing strategy. Marketing policies ensure for example, that every part of the organization is on board and promoting the organization in a consistent manner. A consistent image is what makes people remember a company.

Strategic Decisions and Decision-Making
The strategic management aspects of marketing consists of four (4) areas of strategic considerations -

Products/Market Selection - These are the goods and services offered to customers in selected markets to meet their interests or demand.
Pricing - The cost people pay for a "product"; provides the means to capture value
Place - Home where the "product" resides; this includes Channels of Distribution (or Location Outlets); these define the places where, when and by whom the products and services are delivered to customers.
Promotion/Communication - "Product" exposure and public relations effort - this includes all the activities which are undertaken to communicate with the customer and increase the sale- such as promotion functions like advertising, sales promotion, personal selling, word of mouth, publicity, etc.

Strategic Decision Considerations and Factors
These considerations can be framed in terms of questions to guide answers to issues that help frame strategic decisions in marketing and marketing strategy.

Products and Market Selection Considerations
These are decisions related to what markets the company will serve with products - goods and services. These decisions commit the firm to particular customer groups, specific fields of technology, and certain competitive milieu. These decisions are informed by the following factors - product specification information, estimate of market opinion (assumed value of product/brand to the customer, etc.) and considerations such as:

What does the customer want from the product/service? What needs does it satisfy?
What features does it have to satisfy these needs? Are there any features we are missing? Are you including costly features that the customer won't actually use?
How and where will the customer use it?
What does it look like? How will customers experience it?
What size(s), color(s), etc., should it be?
What is it to be called?
How is it branded?
How is it differentiated versus our competitors?
What is the most it can cost to provide and still be sold sufficiently profitably?

In marketing, product is what you sell, whether it's physical product or service, idea, r even another person (like in politics) or yourself (when you search for a new job). When you think about changing your product offering to boost sales, you look at anything from new or upgraded products to different packaging to added extras like services or warranties. You can also think about ways to improve quality.

Placement Considerations
These decisions are about distribution systems and channels such as the firms personal sales force, wholesale distributors, and retail outlets as well as the internet or electronic commerce. Placement is concerned with decisions about communications channels available to marketers such as print media, television, direct mail, telemarketing, trade shows, point-of-sale displays, personal sales forces, and third party influences. These decisions are informed by the following considerations and factors:

Where do buyers look for your product or service?
If they look in a store, what kind? A specialist boutique or in a supermarket, or both? Or online? Or direct, via catalog?
How can you access the right distribution channels?
Do you need to use sales force? Or attend trade fairs? Or make online submissions? or send samples to catalog companies?
What do your competitors do, and how can you learn from that and/or differentiate?

Placement is where and when you present your product to customers. You have many options as to how you place the product both in time and space. Placement involves distribution and logistics. Distribution concerns where and when products are offered for sale, whereas, logistics addresses how they get there.

Pricing Decisions
These are decisions informed by interplay of a number of factors such as supply/demand conditions, the firm's production and overhead costs as well as the following considerations:.

What is the value of the product - goods or services - to the buyer?
Are there established price points for products and services in this area?
Is the customer price sensitive? i.e., whats the bargaining power of customer? What discounts should be offered to trade customers, or to other specific segments of your market?
How will your price compare with your competitors?
What's the firm's production

In marketing. price is not only the list price or sticker price of a product, but it's also any adjustments to that price, such as discounts and any price-oriented inducements to buy, including coupons, frequency rewards, quantity discounts, and free samples.

Promotion and Communications Considerations
Promotion is all the sales activities, advertising, publicity, special events, displays, signs, Web pages, and other communications designed to inform and persuade people about your product. It is the face of marketing and provides the means/methods to reach out to ask customers for their business. Promotions need to motivate and stimulate people to want to buy. Promotions decisions are informed by the following considerations:

Where and when can you get your marketing messages across to your target market?
Will you reach your audience by advertising online, in the press, on TV, on radio, or on billboards? By using direct marketing mailshots? Through PR? On the internet?
When is the best time to promote?
How do your competitors do their promotions? And how does that influence your choice of promotional activity?

Promotion strategy should provide marketing managers with basic guides for the use and mix of advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, and media selection.

Marketing Strategy
Marketing strategy is concerned with choices and commitments in establishing customer loyalty, penetrating current markets, or reaching out to new markets. Marketing strategies focus on business opportunities and concerns such as: customer retention, diversification of the customer base, market share growth, market value growth, becoming the market leader, increasing purchase frequency, etc. The marketing strategy is characterized by the decisions the company needs to make so the marketing tactics and actions work better, and toward achieving the marketing objectives. These decisions define keys to your particular and selected marketing strategy and are informed by the decision choices and consideration of factors such as:

Who is your narrowly defined target customer?
What are you selling to them?
Where are they looking for your product or service?
In which category does your business exist?
What is your unique benefit?
Who is your real competition?
How are you clearly different from your competition?

Providing simple, single answer to each of the above questions ensures focus; and committing not to change these for a period of a year or two make your tactics work better.

A typical marketing strategy is to determine the needs in an area where the company has a natural competing advantage as defined by the business strategy; such advantages might be in location, facilities, reputation, or staffing. Marketing strategy is concerned with matching existing or potential products and services with the needs of customers. Marketing strategy influences the other functions and function strategies, and forms the basis for these other function strategies. These Non-Marketing Function Level strategies are derived from Operations Strategy and/or Marketing Strategy; and they must support the marketing strategy that in turn, is a component of the overall business strategy.

Marketing Strategy Types
The types of marketing strategies include:

Targeted Marketing Strategy
Outbound Marketing Strategy
Inbound Marketing Strategy
Blogging and Content Marketing Strategy
Social Media Marketing Strategy
Search Engine Optimization
Email Newsletters and Email Marketing
Visual Marketing Strategy
Brand Awareness Strategy
Media Attention
Press Releases
New product/Service Launch Strategy

The marketing strategy selected by an organization is dependent on whether the organization is attempting to reach new or existing customers, and whether its products and services are new or already exist.

Some examples of selected marketing strategies may be a one of the following generic strategies:

Marketing Penetration - The firm attempts to gain greater control in a market in which it already has a product or services.
Market Development - Introducing the firm's existing products or services to customers other than the ones it currently serves.
Product Development - Creates a new product or service for existing customers.
Diversification - Offering new products to new customers.

A selected strategy would in addition have marketing mix options associated, such as pricing strategy options, positioning/place strategy options, and advertisement and promotion strategy options - .Outbound Marketing, Inbound Marketing, Blogging and Content Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Email Marketing and News Letters. Visual Marketing, Media Attention, Press Releases, Guerrilla Marketing, eBooks and Content Marketing, Paid Search Advertising, Direct Mail campaigns, Cold Calling and Cold Emailing.

Formulating Marketing Strategy
Marketing strategies are defined in terms of the specification of intended outcomes, expressed in terms of marketing goals and objectives. Marketing strategy is defined by a plan of action for identifying and analyzing a target market, and developing a marketing mix to meet the needs of that market. The strategies state through outcomes goals "where" the company intends to be at some specific time in the future.

Marketing Goals
Marketing level strategic goals state "what" is to be achieved in a marketing functional area and "when" results are to be accomplished. Marketing goals are statements of what results you want to achieve with your marketing. What's the primary reason you are marketing? Marketing goals should fit into and support your overall business goals. A marketing goal can be a number, such as a certain year-end revenue figure; it might be a number such as four new clients per month. Marketing goals can also be quantitative translations that fit with your company's financial objectives, stated in marketing terms such as:

Increase Sales dollars
Increase Units sold
Increase Market share
Increase Mix of products or services offered
Increase ROI on advertising expenditures
Increase Awareness and Visibility
Increase Public relations placements
Increase Number of new accounts/relationships
Increase Share of customer's business
Increase Sales conversion rates

One of the primary goals of marketing strategy is to establish customer loyalty and to reach out to new markets.

The goals are the building blocks of your marketing plan, the starting point of the plan. For any given company's situation not all these goals will be relevant, a subset of these goals will be part of the marketing plan. The right number of goals is the one that offers reasonably high probability of success over a given period of time. "Reasonably", "period of time", and "success" all have to defined by the company, and should be consistent with the overall business goals and management commitment.

Marketing Objectives
Marketing objectives are goals set by a business when promoting its products or services to potential consumers that should be achieved within a given time frame. In other words, marketing objectives are the marketing strategy set in order to achieve the overall organizational objectives. Typical marketing objectives may include:

Increase Sales - "To increase sales by 50% within 12 months"
Build Brand Awareness - Achieve 75% customer awareness of our brand in our target markets.
Grow Market Share - Achieve market share of 10%
Target new customers - Bring in 20 new customers per month
Enter new markets internationally, or locally - Open a new distribution channel in a new market geographically
Improve shareholder relations
Enhance customer relationships
Improve internal communications - "To increase the number of enquires from our marketing communications activities by 20% by the end of the month"
Increase profits

Marketing objectives are short-term achievements to help you accomplish longer-term goals. They should be set on a weekly or monthly time line. These objectives help a business set out what a business wants to achieve from its marketing strategy.

Marketing Plan
The purpose of the marketing plan is to describe who your clients are and where they are, and how you can reach them. The marketing plan helps you outline your marketing goals and objectives and help your company understand how to get there. A Marketing Plan consists of several key pieces of information which can be divided into sections based on the organizations preference.

The marketing plan goes into the logistical details of executing your strategy such as budgets, more detail time scales for objectives and goals, who in the organization will manage the various points in the strategy, the logistics of various distribution channels and their incumbent costs. etc. The marketing plan is vital for small businesses; it help small businesses leverage their resources and audience for maximum impact at minimum cost. The marketing plan is a more lively document than your strategy, and will need to be updated more frequently and adjusted to accommodate changes in costings, market conditions, economic conditions and other factors. Monitor the results of marketing activity, and be ready to adapt both your strategy and plan.

The Role of Goals and Objectives
Marketing goals and objectives are created by managers in marketing to guide the work of employees in the marketing department. Managers review the total company goals and identify ways that the marketing department can support those company goals. Each supporting action represents a goal for the department to continue and improve on. Marketing objectives identify specific actions that marketing employees can perform; each objective providing a method of achieving the company's goals.

Human Resources Management Function
All businesses require capital such as financial capital to begin operations, whether to rent a building, purchase equipment, or pay for utilities; human capital - the employees hired to make the company run. The human resource function is about acquiring and managing this important resource, and ensuring that it is developed and sustained. The human resources function and departments of a company has the task of ensuring that the company has the best and effective workforce possible to achieve the mission.

The Human Resource function in an organization involves the management of employees in an effective and efficient manner to attain the organizational goals through planning, organizing, directing, and controlling organizational human resources. The Human Resources Management involves one or more of the following essential functions:

Talent Acquisition/Recruiting - This involves recruiting new employees, training those employees, and helping with conflict resolution.
Compensation Management - This involves setting compensation structures and evaluating competitive pay practices. Payroll can be a component of the compensation and benefits function.
Benefits Administration - This involves negotiating group health coverage rates with insurers and coordinating activities with the retirement savings administrator.
Training and Development - This involves providing employees with tools necessary for their success which means giving new employees extensive orientation training to help transition into a new organizational culture. The department may also provide leadership training and professional development.
Performance Appraisals and Management - []
Employee and Labor Relations - This is concerned with strengthening the employer-employee relationship through measuring job satisfaction, employee engagement and resolving workplace conflict.
Compliance Management - This is concerned with compliance with labor and employment laws.
Workplace and Job Safety - This involves creating a safe work environment and support workplace training, and maintain federally mandated logs for workplace injury and fatality reporting.

In small businesses without a dedicated HR department, it is possible to achieve the same level of efficiency and workforce management through outsourcing HR functions or joining a professional employer organization.

Human Resource Management Function Goals and Objectives
Human resource management function goals provide clear direction for managing the company's workforce. These include:

Maintain Productivity with Staff Planning- This goal requires providing the organization with an adequate number of skilled and efficient workers. HR managers must continually analyze the workload and know when there are potential problems with manpower, and when its time for additional help. Similarly, understanding turnover within the company will help identify problem areas and allow for policy corrections or other adjustments. To speed up the hiring process, develop a staffing plan including complete job description, roles and responsibilities as well as a clear understanding of the type of personalities that will fit well in your corporate culture. hen the HR Manager is familiar with the company's personnel needs, they will be able to attract and hire the most qualified candidates to open positions.
Develop Evaluation Processes and Training Programs - Retaining skilled workforce should be a key focus within the HR department. Workers who are appropriately compensated and feel that they can develop professionally are among the most satisfied. Increasing the number of training and professional programs in your company will create a more skilled and productive staff. Employees desire to know if they are performing their jobs well through frequent feedback, rather than waiting for formal performance reviews. A "designing my success" review helps employees to honestly evaluate weaknesses and strive for improvements while setting goals for future advancement. These career assessments help HR department to be connected with the developing skills of employees; this knowledge informs management decisions when filling open management positions.
Increasing Employee Engagement - The HR department's job is to develop and foster a corporate culture where employees feel included, engaged, and eager to perform well in order to achieve company;'s wide goals.Companies function well when employees are working at their best and they feel valued as important members of the corporate mission.
Policy Creation and Education - Every organization should maintain a formalized set of policies and procedures. The HR department is responsible for creating policies and procedures that create a safe work place and competent workforce. HR policies and procedures establish guidelines on expected behavior of employees in how to appropriately relate to fellow workers and be in compliance to company and sometimes government regulations.
Streamline Processes for Efficiency - Streamline routine processes so that more time can be spent on people-focused activities. HR Management Systems are software programs that allow repetive tasks to be completed easily and more efficiently than if performed manually. The tasks handled by HR Management Systems include: job postings, scheduling, time tracking, computing payroll, and routine communications about corporate policies.

Human Resource Management Goals
The key HR management function goals include:

Achieving consistent employee engagement in the workforce - [Employee Engagement]: The HR department's job is to develop and foster a corporate culture where employees feel included, engaged, and eager to perform well in order to achieve company;'s wide goals.Companies function well when employees are working at their best and they feel valued as important members of the corporate mission.
Creating a safe environment that is supportive of productive relationships by aligning company policies with federal, state, and city employment laws - [Compliance Targets]
Improved Recruiting - Providing the organization with well trained and motivated employees. - [Improved Staffing]
Improved Retention - Reduce employee turnover or increase employee retention - [Improved Staffing].
Increased employee satisfaction - To be employer of choice; employees are happy to be part of the company for which others want to work - [Employer of Choice]
Improved Labor Cost Management - Ensuring effective utilization and maximum development of human resources - [Improved Staffing].
Achieving and maintaining high morale among employees.-
Enhancing employee capabilities to perform the present job.
Inculcating a sense of team spirit, teamwork and inter-team collaboration.
Open and Honest Communication
Open and Friendly Management style
Organize leadership development courses for managers and employees
Managers and employees tasked to define target organizational culture
Design and development of corporate culture

Human Resource Management Objectives
Human Resource Management objectives ...

Creating the right match between employee skills and job assignments- [Goal #1: Employee Engagement]
Coordinating promotional opportunities and workforce capabilities - [Goal #1: Employee Engagement]
Regular employment file audits to assess equity of compensation practices - [Goal #2: Compliance Targets]
Regular employment file audits to assess workforce diversity practices - [Goal #2: Compliance Targets]
Attracting qualified applicants - [Goal #3: Improved Staffing]
Motivating existing workforce and inspiring long-term commitment - [Goal #3: Improved Staffing/Retention].
Strengthening Employer-employee relationships - [Goal #4: Employer of Choice]
Offering innovating compensation and benefits packages - [Goal #4: Employer of Choice]
Investing in employees' development - [Goal #4: Employer of Choice]
Identifying and satisfying the needs of individual employees - [Goal #3:Improved Staffing/Retention]
Improve scheduling - This helps reduce labor costs by avoiding overtime, reducing turnover and the need to add more work

Human Resource Strategy
HR Strategy is a business's overall plan for managing its human capital to align it with its business activities. The focus of HR strategy is to establish the number of employees needed by an organization to carry out their mission, their skills sets and levels, effective training needs, and compensation and rewards systems. To better apply HR strategy HR management must have a finger on the pulse at all times when it comes to the company's goals and objectives. Human Resource Strategy in concerned with the choices and commitment regarding the direction of hiring, training needs, skill level requirements, performance appraisal, development, labor union relationships, and compensation. Human Resources function strategy deals with decisions on:

Benefits Programs & Strategy - e.g., Provide a consistent level of service for all employees while communicating clearly to employees on choice, value and responsibility; Control costs and create value for employees through plan design so that the programs established are market competitive and sustainable; focus on giving employees choices and alternatives.
Compensation Programs & Strategy -
Employee Relations Programs
HR Compliance and Polices
Recruitment Programs
Talent Management and Staff Development

There are many different types of HR strategy but at their heart, they all start with the same foundation; to create a work environment that's synonymous with engaged, productive and loyal staff - employees and contract workers. Every organization is different and will be staffed by employees from different backgrounds, sectors, and with different goals and ambitions, values, beliefs, etc. The key to a successful HR strategy is to identify what unifies and motivates your employees, and to develop a strategic plan around that understanding. The function must be able to constantly look at new ways to keep the employees happy, motivated and productive (on the right track). Management must understand the current environment including, current employees and their skills.

Financial & Accounting Function
In a business, the finance function involves the accounting and utilization of funds necessary for efficient operations. The financial function is concerned with two sets of activities; strategic management - acquiring funds to meet the organization's current and future financial needs, and Operations - recording, monitoring, and controlling the financial results of the organization's operations. The accounting aspects of finance function brings business to life, and passes through every part of the firm's operations.

Financial Management Functions
The managerial functions in the finance department include the following:

Strategic Planning and Budgeting
Strategic planning and budgeting allows businesses to develop plans and budgets to inform the decisions of senior management on what actions to take. These plans form the basis of hiring employees, capital spending, raising capital, marketing campaigns and bonuses for management. Budgeting is the process of allocating financial resources for intended programs, projects, services, and activities to empower the organization to carry out stated goals and objectives.

Capital Management & Tax Planning
This involves methods of funding a company's operations through raising/securing funding, classified into categories based on funding years:

Long Term Finance - This includes finance of investments three (3) years or more; this financing can be sourced from owner capital, share capital, long-term loans, etc.
Medium Term Finance - This is financing done between 1 and 3 years; this can be sourced from bank loans and financial institutions.
Short Term Finance - This is finance needed below one year; funds may be acquired from bank overdrafts, commercial paper, advances from customers, trade credit, etc.

Cash Management
The focus is on making sure there is enough money in the company's bank account. This function is concerned with making sure the business has enough liquidity to pay its suppliers and employees on time. If cash is getting tight, the finance people will make arrangements to use the firm's bank line of credit. Conversely, the company should find appropriate investments that produce better return for excess cash sitting in the bank account.

Profit Planning and Cost Controls
Since the basis of a business is to make a profit, its only fair that finance would play a major role in finding ways to improve profitability. This department develops financial statements for revenue, expenses, and capital expenditures, and use these plans to determine profitability of individual products and services.

Accounting and Records Keeping
This aspect of accounting is basically the systematic process of handling all the financial transactions and business records of an organization. It involves book keeping processes that record transactions, keeps financial records, performing auditing, etc. Operations involves the following processes:

Recording financial transactions and maintaining a journal of those transactions.
Classifying and separating the records into ledgers.
Preparing balance sheets and income statements
Analyzing financial data and records.
Communicating financial information to management, owners, and other stakeholders.

Risk Management
Financial analysis informs management decisions on the concerns of the influence of factors such as; direction of interest rates, currency fluctuations, changes in commodity prices and risks that customers will not pay their invoices. Financial reports monitor these areas and give reports to owners and managers.

Financial Function Goals and Objectives
The managerial functions in the finance department is guided by the following financial and accounting function goals such as::

Strategic Budgeting Goals - To create and monitor overall company budget, and functional/departmental budgets. Some examples of objectives research to estimate accurate revenue level based on demand forecasting,
Cost Containment Management Goals - To ensure you get quality at the lowest price for materials, suppliers and services
Cash Flow Management Goals - []
Debt Service Goals - []
Tax Planning Goals - []
Record Keeping Goals - []
[TBD]

Financial Strategy
Financial strategy is concerned with the choices and commitments regarding acquisition of financial resources, analyzing cost structure, estimating profit potential, allocation of financial capital, dividend policy, or accounting functions in managing investment/working capital/cash flow. Most businesses require substantial amount of capital to both develop and operate; and therefore, cost and availability of capital have an enormous impact on the business. When demand is high, large amounts of cash is generated, and when demands drops cash gets used up very quickly. Financial strategies concern objectives in key results areas such as: profitability, liquidity and cash management, leverage and capital management, asset management, investment ratios, and financial planning and control.

Businesses respond to and operate under a variety of financial strategy options. Strategy selection is influenced by the company's overall goals, objectives, and mission statement.

Finance and accounting operations implement strategies to reduce functional and operational complexity, streamline processes, optimize the use of technology, and efficiently use resources to deliver cost effective, high quality services.

Return on On Investment Capital
The following financial strategy options can b mixed to achieve various business objectives such as accelerate growth, minimize investment, and improve returns and the timeliness of those returns. For example, for business objective such as Return on Investment, the mix of financial strategy options include:

Manage Contracts
Rollover Asset
Additional Capacity
Franchises
Management contract with limited equity investment
Buy out of negative leases
Acquisitions
Joint Ventures
Management contract with major equity investment
Ownership (Construction)

Improve Return on Investment Capital (ROIC) involves the following financial strategy options:

Rollover Asset (sale)
Manage Contracts
Additional Capacity (assumes demand is high)
Buy out of negative leases
Buy in to joint ventures with management contracts.

Cash Generation
Understanding how to generate cash in relationship to your business' time horizon is essential to survival. The fastest way to generate cash is to rollover an asset. The longest time to generate cash is to develop a concept - opening an operating business model that is successful and worthy of franchise investment - and then providing for the marketing of the franchise.

Rollover of an Asset
Ownership
Acquisitions
Manage Contract
Franchise

Operations Strategy
Operations strategy is the tool that helps define the methods (means) of producing goods and services companies/organizations offer to customers. Operations strategy is concerned for the long-term with how to best determine and develop the firm's major operations resources so that there is a high degree of compatibility between those resources and the business strategy. Operations strategy is the total pattern of decisions which shape the long-term capabilities of any type of operations and their contribution to the the overall organization strategy.

Operations strategy can broadly categorize operations decisions as Structure or Infrastructure. Structure means the physical attributes of operations, while infrastructure refers to the people, systems, and software. Another way to categorize operations strategies is top-down or bottom-up; market-based or operations-based.

Operations Strategy Categories/Types
Operations strategy can broadly categorize operations decisions as Structure or Infrastructure. Structure means the physical attributes of operations, while infrastructure refers to the people, systems, and software. Another way to categorize operations strategies is top-down or bottom-up; market-based or operations-based.

Top-Down and Bottoms-Up Design
Operations strategy is designed, top-down, by managers either formally following the general principles of strategy design, or it emerges, bottom-up, as a result of management decisions.

Top-Down: A top-down approach to operations strategy design involves senior management formally defining the mission, then progressively expanding this to give the corporate, business, and functional strategies. Once organizational purpose/mission, corporate strategy, business and competitive strategy, and values are clear, the organization can be structured in such a way that roles and functions are clearly defined and differentiated, lines of communications and accountability untangled, and decision-making procedures transparent and functional.
Bottoms-Up: The actual operations strategy eventually emerges over time from a bottom-up perspective as a result of the sum of the practical decisions made, and actions taken by managers in continually responding to actual conditions and problems as they arise in the organization. Operations strategies focus on maximizing the efficiency and effectiveness of production while minimizing operating costs. Operations strategy is the collective concrete actions chosen, mandated, or stimulated by corporate strategy

The actual design involves both top-down and bottom-up approaches that result in the actual strategy being a combination of intended strategy and emergent strategy respectively. These will generally require analysis of market requirements (marketing) and the operations resource capabilities (operations).

Market-Based and Operations-Based

Market-Based Approach - Satisfying market requirements (expressed and measured in terms of competitive factors) by setting appropriate performance objectives for operations. An organization makes a decision regarding the markets and the customers within those markets it intends to target. The organization's market position is one in which its performance enables it to attract customers to its products and/or services in a more successful manner than its competitors. Competitive factors (distinctive competencies) are its products and services win orders (for example, price, quality delivery speed, etc.).
Operations-Based Approach - Making decisions based on the deployment of operations resources which affect the performance objectives for operations. With this approach there is an assessment of the operations decisions regarding: (1) Structural Decisions - Physical arrangement and configuration of resources, (2) Infrastructural Decisions - Activities that take place within the operation's structure. The nature and complexity of formal and informal processes, tangible and intangible resources is central to the resource-based view of strategy.

The market-based view works from the outside-in approach, and the resource-based view works from an inside-out of the firm perspective.

Operations Decisions
Operations is the organization function responsible for managing the resources and processes needed to produce the company's goods and services. Not every organization will have a functional department called 'operations', but they will all undertake operations activities because every organization produces goods and/or delivers services. Operations Strategy design is concerned with some very broad questions regarding structure, and infrastructure - how major resources should be configured in order to achieve the firm's corporate objectives.

"Structure" - capacity, location, processes, technology, and timing
"Infrastructure" - . The decisions and actions taken within operations have a direct impact on the basis on which an organization is able to do this survive and prosper. Some of the areas of consideration for managers include:

Work Organization
Planning and Control Systems
Quality Management
Human Resources
New Product Development
Performance Management of Employees.

Operations strategy is the total pattern of decisions which shape the long-term capabilities of any type of operations and their contribution to overall strategy by reconciling market requirements with operations resources (Slack and Lewis, 2011) through market-based or resource-based approaches.

Operations Strategy Formulation
Operations strategy guides the structural decisions and evolution of operational capabilities needed to achieve the desired competitive position of the organization as a whole. Operations strategy provides the ability to improve products, services, and processes. To develop the strategy consider the following factors:

Business/corporate strategy
Market/needs analysis
Distinctive competencies i.e., price, quality, service, flexibility, and trade-offs
Performance objectives - Order winning criteria such as quality, price/cost, delivery speed, dependability, and flexibility.
Management decisions and choices of structure and infrastructure.

A firm's Operations Strategy must be conducive to developing a set of policies in both process choice and infrastructure design - organization structure and the systems, human resources, culture and resources that support i; and are consistent with the firm's distinctive competencies.

Operations Strategy Formulation Process Steps:
The design of an Operations Strategy shows the long-term aspirations and intent.

Define Corporate Objectives - This involves establishing corporate objectives to provide direction for the organization and performance indicators that allow progress in achieving these objectives to be measured. The objectives will be dependent on the needs of external and internal stakeholders and so will include financial measures such as profit and growth rates as well as as employee practices such as skills development and appropriate environmental policies.
Determine Marketing Strategies to meet these objectives.
Assess how different products win orders against competitors.
Establish the most appropriate mode (structure)to deliver these sets of products/services - This involves putting the processes and resources in place which provide the required performance as defined by the performance objectives. It involves delivery system choice which concerns aspects of the organization's physical resources such as service delivery systems, and capacity provision.
Provide infrastructure required to support operations - This involves putting the processes and resources in place which provide the required performance as defined by the performance objectives. It involves Operations Infrastructure decisions describing the systems, policies and practices that determine how the structural elements are managed.

Operations strategy is the collective complete actions chosen, mandated, or stimulated by corporate strategy; and its implemented within the operations function. Most firms share access to the same processes and technology, so they usually differ little in the areas of distinctive competency. What is different is the degree to which operations matches its processes and infrastructure to its strategic objectives and goals.

Operations strategy binds the various operations decisions and actions into a cohesive consistent response to competitive forces by linking firm policies, programs, systems, and actions into a systematic response to the competitive/strategic priorities chosen and communicated by the corporate or business strategy. Operations strategies only become effective when they are implemented, i.e., the strategic plans are carried out and translated into positive actions.

Operations Strategy Implementation
Implementation of operations strategy consists of all the activities that turn the vague thoughts and ideas in the operations strategy into actual operations to make products and deliver services. Implementing the strategy makes sure that the aspirations and intent defined at strategy design are realized.

Operations strategy is implemented in the Operations Function and is the collective concrete actions chosen, mandated, or stipulated by corporate strategy. There are five (5) common requirements for successful implementation:

An initial stage to make sure that the appropriate operations infrastructure is in place.
Cascading decisions and actions down through the organization; initiate decision-making at lower levels, or 'strategy activation'
Monitor and control performance to make sure that planned results are actually achieved..
Develop action plan for implementation.
Exercise strategic leadership.

By developing operational strategies, a company can examine and implement effective and efficient systems for using resources, personnel, and work processes. Service-oriented companies also use basic operational strategies to link long-term and short-term corporate decisions and create an effective management team.

Implementation Tasks
Within the infrastructure managers have to consider the following:

The way operations function fits into the broader organization.
The Internal structure of the operations function.
Information, communication. financial, control, and other support systems.
Internal policies, methods and culture that support the implementation.
Budgets and resources for operations.
Integrated supply chains to ensure the flow of materials.
Motivation of people to pursue targets.
Leadership to drive implementation forward and to continually look for improvements.

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Operations Decisions - Operations Strategy Design
In Operations Strategy design some very broad questions are addressed regarding how major resources should be configured in order to achieve the firm's corporate objectives. Some of the issues of include: long-term decisions regarding "structure" - capacity, location, processes, technology, and timing; and infrastructure to enable the decisions and actions taken within operations that have a direct impact on an organization capacity to survive and prosper.

Distinctive Competencies - Key Success Factors
Some of the generally accepted distinctive competencies include:

Price/Cost - A firm competing on price basis is able to provide consumers with an in-demand product/service at a price that is competitively lower than that offered by firms producing the same or similar goods/services.
Quality - A firm competing on this basis offer products or services that are superior to the competitors on one or more dimensions such as: Performance - a product's primary operating characteristics; Conformance - the degree to which a product's design and operating characteristics meet predetermined standards; Features - the bells and whistles of a product; Durability - mean time until replacement (how long does the product last before it is worn out); Reliability - a product's mean time until failure or between failure; Serviceability - the speed, courtesy, competence, and ease of repair; Aesthetics - a peoduct's looks, feel, smell, sound, or taste are aesthetic qualities; Perceived Quality - this is usually inferred from various tangible and intangible aspects of the product.
Service -A firm competing on Service basis can define this in a number of ways such as: Superior Customer Service; Rapid delivery; On-time Delivery; Convenient Location.
Flexibility - A firm competing on flexibility basis depends on their ability to provide either flexibility of product or volume.

Operations System
The Operations System, for an organization, is the joint configuration of resources and processes such that its resulting competencies are aligned with the organization's desired competitive position. Each organization strategy requires a tailored operating system, its resources and processes configured such that its competencies best fit the customer value proposition specified by the competitive strategy. An organization's Operations System provides the best match (fit) of supply (of tangible resources) with customer demand for the mix of products and services.

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In a competitive environment, offering a variety of products to meet customer demand is not enough for a manufacturer to achieve a high level of financial performance. At the same time, the products manufactured must be competitive on the basis of price, quality and product functionality. In addition, an organization must maintain high performance levels in the management of the flow of materials through an organization from the point of origin to the point of consumption and from raw materials to in-process inventory to finished goods. Achieving these latter goals requires that a manufacturer define appropriate logistics performance objectives or goals pertaining to procurement, production and distribution processes.

Performance Goals
A manufacturer can achieve competitive advantage, which is an advantage over other companies that operate in the same industry, by achieving operational performance objectives for its production and storage processes. Such objectives can be categorized as functional performance, customer accommodation performance or logistics performance objectives. For example, functional performance can be gauged according to the total dollars spent for such items as warehousing of materials, transportation and order processing as well as the number of complete orders delivered to the customer and the average number of days between order receipt and product delivery. In turn, customer accommodation performance criteria include the number of perfect orders and the level of customer satisfaction achieved by logistics processes. However, each performance goal in these categories, as well as the logistics performance objectives category, is defined for an individual business process. As Jan Olhage writes in “Advances in Production Systems,” a manufacturer can define specific objectives for the procurement, production and distribution logistics processes in particular.

Production Goals
Suitable production objectives for a manufacturer include attaining a high level of operational performance through high delivery reliability and short throughput times, which may be achieved by such activities as capacity planning and production scheduling. In turn, the manufacture may set a logistics and process costs control objective in the form of high utilization, which may be achieved by maintaining short and reliable lead times as a result of supplier relationships, internal controls and process improvements. The manufacturer may also focus on cost control by maintaining low work-in-process levels.

Distribution Goals
Olhage maintains a manufacturer’s valid distribution goals include maintaining a high service level, which may be achieved through a just-in-time inventory system that enables the manufacturer to minimize inventory levels and carrying costs, and low delivery delay, which is achieved through vendor relationships and supply chain controls. In addition, the manufacturer may set logistics process costs and inventory costs objectives, including a low storage costs goal, which may achieved in part by low inventory levels.

Production strategy is a broad long-term action plan made for achieving the main objectives of an organization. Production strategies tell us what the production function/department must do to achieve the top aim of the organization. Production strategy deals with decisions/choices about how and where the products or services will be manufactured or delivered, technology to be used, management of resources, plus purchasing and relationships with suppliers.

Operational Goals
Operational goals are the workflow methods that bring the strategy to fruition, and exist at all levels of the organization, from CEO down to part-time employees. Operational goals are the short-term tactics designed to achieve the company's long-term strategy. Operational goals lay out increments called benchmarks; they streamline the day-to-day activities of the business. They measure daily, weekly, and monthly benchmarks. For example, the monthly budget report shows if a company's financial goals are on track. Manufacturing examines production reports to ensure the number of units produced meets production goals with minimum waste.

Sales Function Strategy
The Sales function/department advises the marketing department based on its feedback with customers and focuses on customer contact to drive sales. Sales operations is about supporting and enabling front line sales teams to sell more efficiently and effectively by providing strategic direction and reducing friction in the sales process. To do this, sales operations fulfills both strategic and tactical functions. Sales operations teams accomplish their goals through a variety of roles and function including: strategy, data analysis, hiring and training, forecasting, territory design, and sales process optimization.

Target Market Sales Goals and Objectives
The Target Market is defined in the Marketing Plan; each plan sets out to determine the effect of the plan on a target market. This is done through market surveys or at the point of sale. Actual sales in the target market are compared to the marketing plan projections to see if any changes need to be made. For example, the target market for a marketing plan may be male airport employees of particular ethnicity. Sales can be measured in units sold, revenue generated or profit amount.

Sales Strategy
Sales strategy is a plan to achieve a sales goal and is what directs the selling activities of any business. Selling is crucial to the success of any business, but it must be orchestrated to deliver success, which is what the sales strategy does. The sales strategy describes how a business will win, retain, and develop customers. Sales strategy is different from marketing strategy - an overall approach to marketing products (it is how you build sustainable competitive advantage for the company's products) through positioning, and differentiation by managing the marketing mix of the 7Ps - .Product, Price, Promotion, Place, Packaging, Positioning, and People.

A sales strategy is particularly important in addressing business challenges such as:

Stagnant sales revenues - Flat/declining sales
Merger of Sales Forces - A need to align sales teams and have them pursue common objective.
Start-up of new Venture - A need to get sales started and realizing the ambition of the founders and investors.
New Product Introduction - A need to deliver the expectations set by management.
Launch by a new competitor - A need to counter the threat from new competitors.
Expansion to new markets - When a company is diversifying and expanding.

When creating a sales strategy be clear as to which challenge(s) you are addressing.

Key Building Blocks of a Sales Strategy
A winning sales strategy has a number of elements/building blocks including:

Goal and Objectives - An effective sales strategy requires you know the goal of your business, i.e., what your overall aim for the business is.
Target Market - You need to decide who will buy your products and services.
Product and Services - Building the best products and services that meet the needs of their target markets.
"What are the competitive advantages?" - This requires identifying the "strengths" and "weaknesses" of competitors that you will need to sell against and exploit.
Route to market - How do you reach and sell to your customers?
Selling Process -

Sales Plan
The tactical plan for the Sales department needs to be developed in concert with the marketing department. The sales pla should address how the volume of calls will be handled, how many people will this require and how sales leads will be followed. The marketing department will need to provide sales department with information about the TV campaign so sales can complete its own tactical plan.

Selling - Sales Process System
Selling is a process involving the interaction of potential "buyer" (Consumer/Business) and a "seller" (person) that represents the company to sell its "products"/"services" to the potential buyer. Sales operations is about supporting and enabling front line sales teams to sell more efficiently and effectively by providing strategic direction and reducing friction in the sales process. To do this, sales operations fulfills both strategic and tactical functions. Sales operations teams accomplish their goals through a variety of roles and function including: strategy, data analysis, hiring and training, forecasting, territory design, and sales process optimization.

Selling Process
The Selling process for business-to-consumer or business-to-business involves the following steps:

Prospecting - Prospecting is the foundation for the rest of the sales process. It involves research to identify the people or companies that might be interested in the offering (products/services); and the qualifying the potential buyer (prospect). Qualifying involves determining if the potential buyer has the desire and ability to buy the product/service. A prospect is a lead that is qualified; a lead is a potential buyer..
Preparation - This is the step where the salesperson does their home work in preparation for the next step - Interaction. This requires the salesperson research and collect information that is relevant and pertinent to the buyer's need and ability and help in presentation of the sales pitch.
Interaction - This is the approach to interaction/engaging the prospect. The step involves the salesperson building trust with the prospect before making the sales pitch in the next step - Presentation..
Presentation - This is where the sales pitch is made through a presentation that demonstrates understanding of the customer's needs> The presentation should be tailored to the customer, explaining how the product/service meets that person or company's needs.
Handling objections - These are the concerns that a customer may have after the presentation; a good salesperson will take this as an opportunity to further understand and respond to customer's needs.
Closing the Sale - You enter this step eventually, if your customer is convinced the product/service will meet their needs. You close by agreeing on the terms of the sale and finishing up the transaction. The important - and sometimes challenging - part of closing is that the seller has to actually ask if the potential customer is willing to make the purchase. When the close is successful, this step clearly aligns with the purchase step in the buying process.
Follow-up - This is an important step in assuring customer satisfaction, retaining customers, and prospecting for new customers. This might involve sending a thank-you note, contacting the customer to make sure a product was received, or checking in to make sure a service is meeting customer's expectations. From the buyer's perspective, the follow-up is the implementation step in the buying process.