Ted Baker is a public for profit company that is in that deals with apparel

Strategic Planning

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Strategic Planning

Ted Baker is a public for Profit Company that is in that deals with apparel. The company is a multinational company with various branches in different countries and its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The industry the company operates in is the apparel industry. Ted has various stores that have an international presence. There are 185 stores in Europe, Canada, and the USA has 97, Asia and Middle East have 64 and Australasia have nine concessions and stores. Strategic planning is essential in the efficient running and direction of activities to meet set objectives. Strategies that company uses are mostly the “means by which the” company “achieves its objectives” (Morden, 2007). The strategy was further defined by Mintzberg (1987) as consisting of five Ps, which are perspective, plan, pattern, and positioning. Perspective, in this case, is the basic idea or concept and how it is executed, plan directs or guides the activities in an organization strategically; the pattern is the way decision-making is done in a consistent manner and position entails the company’s placement in a competitive environment. Economists have used game theory, which was used by the Chinese in battle planning, strategically. They have developed economic principles using the game theory. Strategic management follows the same technique that is used in politics where power controls the politics happening in a place. The fifth P is the ploy whereby that encompass competitive strategies or moves that are put in place to ensure that improves, achieves, enforces, maintains a competitive position in the market. The sixth and seventh P is the use of politics and power respectively. The use of power is within the external and internal environment while politics entails the use of power or political mannerism in furthering the course of the company. The company may base political mechanisms and power to lobby or influence regulations affecting the industry.

There is also the aspect of strategy formulation, which entails corporate and business strategy. Corporate strategy, in this case, entails the use of strategic management at the organization in general (Grattan, 2011, p. 6). Competence, capability, and character of the enterprise are entailed in corporate strategy. The business strategy, in this case, encompasses the establishment of strategies for particular companies or business activity. The strategic plan is carried out differently in multinational and small companies.

Vision Planning

Vision planning is another part of the strategic planning process. The vision planning forms part of the specifics of the strategic plan. Vision planning entails the setting of goals. Companies creating vision statements further entails strategic evaluations, lists the goals set, and the overall objectives and carries out the plan to achieve the desired goals set in the company.

Scenario Planning

Scenario planning is another process in strategic planning that dwells on SWOT analysis extensively dealing with threats and opportunities in developing the strategy plans. Companies that do business internationally or want to enter new markets use scenario planning. Scenario planning is another important part of planning that helps the company determines its operations in overseas markets (Kodama, 2011, p. 22). Planning on how to set up base in overseas markets gives the company a strategic position in conducting its operations in foreign companies. Scenario planning as such helps the company to set up base in different regions effectively sine opportunities and threats are analyzed and weighed before the company makes the decision to set base in the country.

Demand Analysis

The company usually determines what the consumers want to be able to align their operations in meeting that demand. Demand analysis is beneficial to a company since it will have important information that regards its products in the market. The benefit of using demand analysis for the company will help in determines clothing trends and further meeting the need for different settings in different locations. Knowing the demand for certain products will help the business determine the volumes that need to be supplied to the market. Ted Baker, therefore, needs to study the market properly and ensure that it has wide knowledge of the customer’s tastes and preferences since they are changing by the day. The company will be helped in providing the product when it is needed in the market and thus prevent oversupply or a shortage of the commodity into the market.

Competition Analysis

Competition analysis helps the company in providing a comparison with other companies regarding prices they are offering and the market share. The existing competition can either drive a company out of business or give it a hard time in the market. Knowing the competition and how it operates is beneficial to a company. Such analysis helps in decision making that will help companies review their competition over to determine the direction they can take to be successful in the market (Singh, 2011, p. 3). The analysis of the competition helps in ensuring that the company does not make wrong assumptions. It further helps the company to have efficient positioning on the market. Knowing the competition affecting the clothing market will enable the business to determine which segments it can appeal to more easily and thus position itself effectively while differentiating its product. Competition analysis will further make the business determine the prices of its product. Price is an important factor in the market and therefore having a strategy, that deal with the price to complete normally becomes important to the company. The company mostly enters into different regions and even as new brands come out the company can come up with new strategies to deal with the completion. The fashion sector about clothing is ever-changing, and therefore the company will be able to study its customers to ensure that it gives direction to its employees on the various activities in the company.

Issues Planning

Issues planning concentrate on dealing with one particular challenge that a certain company faces. The planning, in this case, uses strategic analysis with a concentration on weaknesses and strengths in the company. The challenges that can face the company may include the resignation of a member. Since some of the senior managers have left it is important to determine the weaknesses and strengths in the company to ensure that all business processes are taking place normally (Simerson, 2011, p.15). Ted Baker’s may be facing low sales due to a problem that has not been discovered. It may be low transport or infrastructure that is greatly dilapidated. In such cases carrying out issues planning benefits the company in the sense that it helps the company know where activities being undertaken are smoothly running or not. Lack of certain senior managers may present various challenges in the operations of a company and if not replaced may hinder the progress of the company’s department or team. It is, therefore, important to carry out issues planning to determine what is affecting the company negatively and make the necessary decisions to remedy the situation.

References

Grattan, R. F. (2011). Strategic review: The process of strategy formulation in complex organisations. Farnham, Surrey, England: Gower.

Kodama, M. (2011). Knowledge integration dynamics: Developing strategic innovation capability. Singapore: World Scientific.

Mintzberg, H. (1987). The strategy concept I: Five Ps for strategy.  California management review,  30(1), 11-24.

Morden, T. (2007). Principles of strategic management. Aldershot, England: Ashgate.

Simerson, B. K. (2011). Strategic planning: A practical guide to strategy formulation and execution. Santa Barbara, Calif: Praeger.

Singh, K. K. (2011). Strategic planning. New York: Oxford University Press.