A business organization faces multiple strategy choices while formulating its business strategy. These alternatives are based on systematic strategy analyses of the external environment along with an organization’s internal condition. The key question then is how to select the best strategy among several other alternatives. Always the best option would be to select the strategy that can provide better chances of success. Therefore, a success criterion of strategic option is required to evaluate its capability. One such criterion is SAF model (Strategic Alignment Framework). There are three sections of SAF model which are suitability, acceptability and feasibility. Each of these attributes is used in a different way to find out whether a strategy is good enough to obtain success or not.
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Suitable |
Acceptable |
Feasible |
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· Uses strengths · Prevail over weakness · Fulfill objectives |
· Effect on the wealth of stakeholder · Cost and/or benefit · Effect on gearing |
· Ample spare capacity? · Ample amount of skill? · Skill that employees needed · Current brand image is strong or new one required? · New suppliers required? |
In this report, SAF model will be applied on Pizza Express UK. Pizza Express is a famous restaurant group that has over 400 restaurants across the United Kingdom. This company was founded by Peter Boizot in 1965 and the first restaurant was introduced in London’s Wardour Street. In 2014, Pizza Express group was sold to the China based private equity firm Hony Capital. The existing major strategy of the organization is to develop relationship with the audience to create valuable customers. In order to that the organization has perfectly used several media sites and has adapted strategies such as creativity, humor and investing time in followers. Through these strategies the organization was able to improve its sales by nearly 16 percent in 2016. The company also expanded and opened 13 new restaurants in UK and 12 internationally. However, with the increase in sales, the organization has also faced an increase in employee turnover rate. In 2016, turnover rate in Pizza Express grew 14.1 percent to £500m. Therefore, the probable future strategy of the organization would be to decrease the employee turnover rate by adding flexible working hours, increasing wages and implementing monetary and non-monetary rewards.
Suitability: The current strategy which is to develop a continuous communication with the audiences is the suitable strategy to address the strategic position of the organization. The more they will build relationship with the consumers, the bigger consumer base they will have. It will definitely help the management to increase profitability.
Acceptability: It is evident that a business’s success is determined by the number of loyal consumers they have. Loyal customers will not only spend regularly but will also promote the business to others. Now the idea of delivering quality products can only satisfy consumers is history. With quality products consumers also demand quality services and through social media and regular communication it can be done easily. Therefore, it is acceptable also.
Feasibility: Acceptability means whether it is possible for the organization to continue with the current strategy considering the challenges. In this context, today it is extremely easy today to facilitate a frequent communication with the current and potential consumers on social media. It can be done by just opening an official page and by posting new updates about the company on that page. Challenges are almost zero in this strategy and therefore; this strategy is absolutely feasible.
Suitability: If the organization uses flexible work hours, high wages and intrinsic and extrinsic strategies then the chances are high that employee turnover rate will come down. It will help the company to motivate its employees and to retain old employees. If the employees are highly motivated then they will work hard and will contribute to address the strategic position of the company.
Acceptability: If those strategies are implemented, then employees will willingly work hard and will try to gain new skills. New skills will help the employees to grow their careers. Besides, through recognition and promotion which is non-monetary motivational strategy, the employees will be able to have career development. Therefore, their short term and long term goals will be fulfilled.
Feasibility: Currently the turnover rate is extremely high in the organization and is increasing rapidly. High turnover rate means the company will not be able perform consistently. Besides, continuous recruitment will also hurt the profitability of the organization. Therefore, it is feasible to implement those strategies to reduce the turnover rate.
The current strategy of developing a bond and relationship with the consumers is a perfect strategy for the organization. However, the management can do a lot of things to make this strategy more effective. In order to provide a proper recommendation, Ansoff’s matrix is used.
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Current Strategy |
New Strategy |
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Current Market |
Market Penetration Currently the management is only focusing on Instagram for their social media communication strategy. By using creativity, humor and by investing time on the audience, the organization is perfectly communicating with the existing the potential consumers. |
Product/Service Development In order to improve the current strategy, the management of Pizza Express will have to go beyond Instagram. The management will have to become more active on Facebook which is one of the most surfed social media in the world. There, they will have to take some new strategies such as, · Attracting people to the website through social media · Spreading stories on how consumers are using the products of Pizza Express · Divide and conquer · Re-generating content strategy · Ingenuity · Promote new products and services · Originality · Know the audience |
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New Market |
Market Development As per the current strategy of the organization, new market would be concentrating on new social media platforms. |
Diversification If the organization opens their official pages in different social media platforms, diversification of content is required. Layout, design and contents must be different. For example, they are using innovative contents on Instagram. Therefore, in their Facebook page they can just share information about their new products and can directly communicate with the consumers. They can also share the blogs and reviews of the consumers in their Facebook page. |
Sometimes with all the talk about social media, businesses may briefly forget one of their original goals for initiating a social strategy—namely, bringing customers and prospects to your company website. In order to fulfill this recommendation the management of the organization can adapt some steps such as,
1) It is important to keep the customers well-versed by updating product and service knowledge regularly and 2) interact with your customers. For example, if a customer posts an observation or question on the page, be certain to respond back as quickly as possible. Not only will this show them that the organization can offer them with outstanding customer service, but speaking to them honestly will also help to gain their trust.
For the management of the organization it is important to monitor the social media strategy continuously. If the management team sees that a customer tweeted about the products and services or posted a photo on Pinterest, then it means the consumers like it. The management team can use these types of posts for attracting other consumers.
Those tweets or blogs shared by the consumers can be again shared by the management teams in the social media platforms such as in their official Facebook page. It will allow the other consumers to understand how the organization is providing quality products and services to the consumers and making them happy.
This strategy is an expensive one but certainly can create or improve the brand image of the company. The management of the organization can maintain more than one Facebook page or Twitter profile based on the types of products and services the business is providing. Web 2.0 has shaped a marketplace that is extremely segmented and marketers are well informed to take this into account. As a result, Business to Business organizations have a chance to enhance and improve their online marketing strategies by not only establishing a page for their brands, but also by establishing individualized community networking pages for each of the products and services that they offer.
For example, recently Pizza Express has re-launched its home delivery service named as “At home.” For this new service, the organization can open a separate page in the Face book where the consumers will be able to communicate about the orders they have placed for home delivery. It will make it easy for the consumers to communicate and will improve the brand image of the organization.
The content of the marketing campaign is one of the important elements that refer to the overall planning development process of the content that is being published in the public media. In the modern days of business, the digital form of marketing is one of the popularly used forms of advertisement that are used by business organizations to attract all potential customers. However, it is essential that the content of the digital form of marketing is regarded as one of the most important part, which helps to decide upon a user friendly experience.
The content strategy for the Pizza Express needs to have an effective content, which can help in the overall process of creating the vision of the company. The future consequences of the marketing plan are also an important part of content management, which will suggest possible intervention methods of the risks that are involved in the overall process. The content marketing strategy will depend in the type of the target group of customers. For example, for the pizza company, it is important to use the attractive pictures of food and also the detail composition in order to ensure that it is able to attract all the fast food lover customers.
The implication of ingenuity is an important part of the marketing plans for all business organizations. The ingenuity of the products help to ensure that level of quality is not compromised, which is an important part of the maintaining business reputation. The importance of ingenuity helps in the overall process of optimizing the content of marketing activities. It is important for Pizza Express to ensure that they involve in the overall process of engaging the customers in the communication process. The company also needs to showcase its customers and also encourage them to participate in all social sharing of the business content. Virtual community groups are important parts of the maintaining ingenuity of the brand, where in the open forum the customers can discuss issues related to the quality of service and products and can also, suggest areas of improvement.
The promotion activities of the new products and services are the main elements that are used to increase the rate of sales of the company.
After the launch of new products, it is important for Pizza Express to introduce exclusive for offer and attractive discounts. The social media can be also be used as a source of the increasing popularity by raising the level of awareness among the customers about the features and characteristics of the new products. The company can also share the positive reviews that are posted by the existing customers that help in the overall process of establishing brand reputation.
With the help of great content in the marketing activities, it is possible to deal with the issues related to marinating originality of the products. It is important for all business process to maintain originality in order to lower the risks related that are involved with poor reputation of the company from fake and duplicate products.
In order to maintain originality of the products, it is crucial for the Pizza express company to provide all the detail information in the public domain about the constituents of the pizza food. However, they must not share the information about the recipes of making the pizza, which can increase the risks related to introduction of duplicate products in the market. The company also needs to use high quality ingredient and raw materials in the pizzas.
One of the major challenges for the company Pizza express in the current business scenario is the high rate of turnover, which is estimated to be around 14% per year. Hence, the work place reputation of the company is at stake, which has the risks of lowering rate of productivity of the company. Hence, the main future strategy of the company includes the plan to lower the rate of turnover, by implementing the techniques of employee motivation and thereby improving upon the condition of the workplace.
The management of the company will use the elements of Ansoff’s matrix in order to implement in the future strategy for lowering the rate of turnover.
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Current Strategy |
Future Strategy |
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Current Market |
Market Penetration The current strategy for improving the condition of the workplace is to have fixed schedule for work. The workers are also provided promotion in the designation according to the level of their performance. However, the main challenge in this context is that there is no proper way of evaluation to value the performance of the employees, which will ensure that there no one is denied of the reward of their performance. |
Product/Service Development In order to improve upon the current scenario of employee workplace motivation, it is important for the Pizza Express company to reduce the work pressure and stress and also train the employees to deal with the matters related to dealing of the stress `in the workplace and thereby help to improve the working capability. The manager of the company also needs to be proactive and neutral, which will help them to properly evaluate the level of performance of the workers. The company also needs to offer special incentive and bonus if an employee is able to perform beyond their daily fixed target. The workers can also be offered the option of working in different shifts, which will offer them flexible shift timing according to their personal choice. The employees can also given the option of working in the holidays by providing double salary for the day. |
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New Market |
Market Development In the current scenario, the managers of the company held monthly meetings with the employees in order to discuss the issues that are encountered in the workplace and also suggest areas of improvement. Expect the timing of the month meetings; it is not possible for the employees to directly communicate with the company managers. The employees also do not have the access to meet the managers without prior appointment even during the emergency needs. |
Diversification The management of the Pizza Express needs to improve upon the process of intercommunication. The manager of the company needs to encourage the workers to raise the issues they are facing in the workplace. The company can implement special online access for the employees, where they can communicate directly with the top level company managers. The social media platforms can be used by the managers to deliver message to the employees and keep them motivated during stressful and pressure situation. It is also possible for the managers to increase the frequency of the meetings that are held from monthly to weekly basis. |
The workplace motivation for a company is an important part to improve upon the level of company performance for Pizza Express. With the help of the working motivation, it is also possible to improve upon the working skills of the workers. As in the present scenario, there is high rate of turnover for the Pizza Express, it is important for them to restore the workplace reputation. The dis-satisfied workers are mainly responsible for the poor level of performance of overall company that can lower the sales of the company. The main aim of employee motivation is to ensure that a worker stays with the organization for longer period of time and thus is able to use their experiences in the future sustainability of the company.
In order to implement the elements of employee motivation, the managers of Pizza Express needs to introduce the rule of reward recognition, which will help in the overall process of encouraging the workers to perform better by providing full working motivation.
The managers also needs to ensure that the atmosphere in the workplace is healthy and comfortable that helps to ensure that the environment in the workplace is safe and do involve any risk of accident. The quality of the life in the workplace can also be improved with the help of healthy environment.
The stress is also one of the important factors that cause unhealthy work environment and is responsible for excess workload of the workers. In this context, it is important for the company to offer proper time of rest for the employees. During the period of long and busy hours, the employees are motivated to take regular short period of breaks and therefore get the time to relax. The employees also need to given special training, which will help them to develop the mental capabilities to deal with all the stress and pressure in the workplace.
The stress is also one of the important factors that cause unhealthy work environment and is responsible for excess workload of the workers. In this context, it is important for the company to offer proper time of rest for the employees. During the period of long and busy hours, the employees are motivated to take regular short period of breaks and therefore get the time to relax. The employees also need to given special training, which will help them to develop the mental capabilities to deal with all the stress and pressure in the workplace.
Retaining them old employees for Pizza Express is one of the best ways to deal with higher turnover rate. Fostering the growth of employees is one of the best techniques that can be used by Pizza Express in order to retain the old employees. Fostering techniques encouraging to employees to improve upon their skills and help them in getting higher designation in the workplace. One of the main de-motivating factors for employees can be due to the fact that when the managers are any senior employees impose punishment for incorrect work in the workplace. This creates a negative impression in the minds of the employees and discourages them from learning new working skills. On the other hand with the techniques of fostering, the employers can motivate the workers to learn new skills by providing them special training sessions and encourage them to rectify upon their mistakes. It is also the duty of the employer to understand the strengths and weakness of individual employees which will help them to manipulate their working skills and ensure that they get proper interest in their respective jobs. One of the main characteristics of an effective employer is that they are able to understand the weaknesses of every individual employee and therefore can recommend special training programs .
Motivating the employees by encouraging them to participate in all major decision making process can help them boost their working capability and also develop confidence that can help them improve upon their working skills. It is also the duty of the workers to understand their importance in context of the growth of the organization. The entry level workers need to be given special care by the senior workers which will help them to adjust in the new working environment. It has been seen that most of the workers leave their jobs within the first few months as they failed to adjust them self with the work pressure in the new working environment.
In this context, it can be said that it is the duty of the management of Pizza Express to ensure that there we can both new and old employees by applying the techniques of foster growth of workers.
The current employees should be encouraged to bring new employees within their known circles that will help them to build a strong base with the employees of their known circles. The employees can also be offered extra reference charges if they are able to bring new employees within the workplace. This can be one of the effective techniques to encourage employee motivation and also imply foster growth.
It is said that any company with total employees more than 100 needs to have a professional human resource management specialist in order to deal with all the issues faced by the workers. Pizza Express Company will have to employee consultant human resource manager whose role will be to look after the needs of the workers and also ensure that no workers leave the company due to low job satisfaction or high level of stress.
It will be the duty of human resource manager of Pizza Express to ensure that only deserving and proper candidates get employed in the workplace, who are able to deal with the job profile of the company. Proper methods of selection need to be introduced by the human resource management expert in order to accurately evaluate the skills of the interested candidates. The management of the company also needs to motivate the human resource manager by giving a fix target of recruiting more employees within the organization.
3.0 Conclusion
The Pizza express will have to implement special stagey of business development process to ensure that they are able to sustain in the market. Implementing better mode of market penetration by introducing the mode of social media marketing has helped in the overall process of company growth. The future planning process of the company includes strategy to reduce the rate of turnover number by implying effective employee retention policy and also providing workplace motivation. The stress management techniques and employee foster growth are few of the most important steps in this context.
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