week 3 t

Strategic Plan Part 1: Proposal of a New Division

October 2, 2017

Linda McKee

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

2. Propose a new product of service for the new company division. The division should be customer-focused with an innovative mission statement. Ensure differentiation of their product or service.

3. Describe how the division addresses customer needs and achieves competitive advantage.

4. Create a vision and a business model for this new division that clearly demonstrates student’s decision on what they want their business to become in the future.

5. Explain how the vision, mission, and value of the new division aligns with the company’s mission and vision.

6. Summarize how the vision, mission, and values guides the division’s strategic direction.

7. Define guiding principles and values for student’s division in the context of culture, social responsibility, and ethics.

8. Conclusion

9. References

Businesses are considering other inventive concepts or products to aid them to be more dynamic, cost-efficient, and profitable to satisfy the stakeholders. Innovation is essential for growth, and industries that have a sound business exemplary with creativeness in its vision, mission, and values will be constantly successful. This paper will summarize a new division of Walmart that would implement a new and innovative way to deliver services to its clients and how it addresses the client’s needs and achieve competitive advantage. A vision and a business model will be define that would determine what the corporation would develop in the future. Additionally, the paper will clarify how the vision, mission, and the value of the new division are associated with the company's mission and vision and simplify how the new division creates strategic resolutions centered on its vision, mission, and values. Lastly, it will outline the guiding philosophies and values under the structure of culture, social responsibility, and ethics.

Proposal of a new service for the new company division

Adding a product or service allows a company to expand without significantly modifying the company's existing corporate structure (Brea-Solis, Casadesus-Masanell, & Grifell-Tatje, 2015). Walmart is looking into other additional innovation of operating business that would add value to its businesses and help the company to continue to meet its mission and vision statement (Ferguson, 2017). The new service for Walmart would be in the customer service returns division, and it will be focused entirely on returns purchased with a debit or credit card. It is the mission of this new division to "provide and increase customer suitability to save time and money." Before entering the self-service machines for returns, employees will be checking the merchandise. The associate will then scan the item and put a sticker on it. There are two ways customers can return items on this self-service for returns. They can use the receipt or the card used at the time of the purchase. The items they are returning must be in the package and are in good condition; preferably closed and never been used or open.

Addressing customers’ needs and achieving competitive advantage

The new business division creates a strong, unified division dedicated to bringing a better experience to more customers (Brea-Solis, Casadesus-Masanell, & Grifell-Tatje, 2015). Walmart's new service fulfills the customers' needs. It increases convenience for clients and saves them time. How many people keep their receipt? This new service makes it easier and convenient for customers, because if they don't have the receipt, they can scan the card that was used at the time of purchase. Much more like self-checkout machines, this self-service for returns will allow customers to process their returns without having to wait in long lines. Can you imagine having to return just one item, and not having to wait with others that have a lot of products to return? This new service in Walmart is like no other. It takes the customer experience to another level. Unlike other places, this new service is a fitting example of putting customer needs above all else and provides practicality to save time. This division also attracts more customers to shop in the store, thus creating a competitive advantage in the market.

Vision and a business model for the new division

The vision for Walmart's new service is to be the best in making customer returns experience easier, faster, and convenient. Walmart will continually revisit this vision to measure the company's progress and success (Ferguson, 2017). It can also help the company make critical business decisions because it represents the heart and soul of the firm. The company prioritizes customers in its operations. Walmart's model for this new division would be a well-designed business model. This model will focus on collecting customer references (Koca-Helvaci, 2015). Walmart will pay attention to customers and ask for publishable recommendations and word of mouth support in return. In the future, this business will increase have increase customers experience due to its efficient new service of the returns division.

Vision, mission, and values aligns with the company’s mission and vision

The vision and mission created in this new division are clearly in line with the company’s mission and vision. According to Ferguson (2017), the company's mission statement is "Saving people money so they can live better." The vision is "to be the best retailer in the hearts and minds of consumers and employees" (Ferguson, 2017). The new division does save people money by allowing customers to return their merchandise for their money back. This experience makes life so much easier and better. This newly created division was to ensure that the emerging technology is well utilized to the full benefit of the customers Walmart serves. Additionally, this new service will give customers the best experience, and this increases customer expediency, which supports the company's vision. The value of this new division is the "business of better" which defines the values in action. It’s how the new service delivers superior customer service to achieve the common purpose of saving people money so they can live better.

Vision, mission, and values guides the division’s strategic direction

The vision, mission, and value statement are guidelines the division will base their strategic planning to guide the direction of the company. The strategic plan is to provide a service that addresses the customer's desires, and the new self-return service fulfills that need. This plan positively drives the strategic direction because it's a huge advantage to customers. At the same time, it attracts more customers to shop because they now know about the new service. Walmart's strategies and strategic choices follow its mission statement, vision statement, and values by making sure people save money and live better. The vision requires that it manages to be the best that produces high-quality services. It is the end goal the business strives to achieve, whereas mission and values will provide the framework or structure for guiding each action in the strategic plan of the business. The values help all individuals within the division to remain focused towards the accomplishment of the goals that the division has (Koca-Helvaci, 2015).

Guiding principles and values in the context of culture, social responsibility, and ethics

For Walmart's new service to be successful in this competitive business environment, it has to capitalize the new emerging technologies that would enable the company to adopt innovation to be profitable. In this process, Walmart should align its guiding principle with its cultures, social responsibility, and ethics (Ghazzawi, Palladini, & Martinelli-Lee, 2014).

The division will still operate under the Walmart Company. For that reason, therefore, employees within this division will work using the operational ethics and values that are similar to those of Walmart Company which is customer first. Customers are Walmart's priority. The company will always make an extra effort to ensure that the clients remain satisfied with its products and service. The organization will strive to resolve customer issues and queries at the earliest. Customers are the king. The social responsibility of the organization and that of the division will be similar since the division is within the organization. Social Responsibility of the business is to strive to improve the society that we operate in by contributing in other ways to make the lives of people better. Walmart will remain committed to improving the society and people around us through our actions. The cultural foundation for this new division is teamwork and customer services. Walmart will work together as a team to ensure that company provides the best customer services that meet the needs of its clients. There will be an open door policy to allow employees to share their concern and joy at any time. Additionally, there will be respect for among staff and customers as well (Ghazzawi, Palladini, & Martinelli-Lee, 2014).

Conclusion

With growing competition, every company must be continuously innovative to keep up-to-date with the growing customer demands. The new service for the returns division in Walmart is customer-based that addresses the needs of clients. It's mission, vision, and mission aligns with the company's mission and vision, and helps aid the strategic direction of the company to a positive one. Overall, this new service will help people save money and time, therefore making customers lives easier.

References

Ferguson, E. (2017, March). Walmart's Vision, Mission, Generic, & Intensive Strategies.

Retrieved from http://panmore.com/walmart-vision-mission-statement-intensive- generic-strategies.

Brea-Solís, H., Casadesus-Masanell, R., & Grifell-Tatjé, E. (2015). Business Model Evaluation: Quantifying Walmart's Sources of Advantage. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, 9(1), 12-33. doi:10.1002/sej.1190. Retrieved from https://search-ebscohost-com.contentproxy.phoenix.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ent&AN=101384711&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

Koca-Helvaci, Z. (2015). Walmart and its employee relations: Organizational stance-taking and legitimacy. On the Horizon, 23(4), 374-386. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.contentproxy.phoenix.edu/docview/1734605394?accountid=134061.

Ghazzawi, I. A., Palladini, M., & Martinelli-Lee, T. (2014). THE WAL-MART STORES, INC.: AN AMERICAN DREAM THAT TOUCHED THE WORLD. Journal of the International Academy for Case Studies, 20(1), 9-32. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.contentproxy.phoenix.edu/docview/1647822349?accountid=134061.