Objectives And Strategies

Introduction

Demand might seem good and effective for a product or a service being delivered, but failed to effectively deliver the product to the market, there is a likelihood that the organization may fail. Hrebiniak (2013) claim that a poor organization growth structure not only hurts the capability to maximize opportunities, but it can also result in issues that can lead to a grave decline of a company. Starbucks is one company that has failed to align its organizational objective and strategy leading to a destruction of its brand value and consequently its growth. The company has failed in mitigating clear goals, communication, marketing, and strategies an execution when venturing into contemporary markets and running its business in general.

Discussion

Starbucks is a chain-store coffee house determined to offer the best quality of Arabica coffee as the base for its espresso drinks, and its business operations were effectively run efficiently until they lost focus, by including new products and the opening of new chain stores before others matured undermined the organization and its growth strategy leading to its deterioration.

Unclear Goals and Objectives

Studies that David (2011) has come across have identified that organization goals and objectives provide the required framework to hasten strategic planning, talent management, budgeting and the organizational framework. Cameron and Green (2015), argue that failure to define and communicate desired goals and objectives; it makes it unbearable for an organization like Starbucks to carry out quality and consistent functions meant to lure customers and consequently generate earnings. From the case study, we find that Starbucks’ initial goal was to lure in customers who valued the club-like environment of relaxation over a quality cup of coffee.

Quelch (2008) claim that, due to poor management and the desire to grow exponentially, the company lost track of its main objective and chose to venture in the grab and go customers whose services required briskness of order delivery rather than identification by and communication with its clients. In the process, the company’s had to change its mode of delivery service such as ‘Express’ meant to meet the demands of these clients without undermining the first clients but resulted to the first customers feeling like they are the minority. It led to these first customers seeking new services to companies such as Caribou and Peets to satisfy the initial aesthetic they were getting at Starbucks before it changed its business model.

Starbucks focused on short-term goals, which included creating customer base to generate a quick earning, and in the process lost focused on the long-term goals that basically include building a brand, market share growth and finally profits. It seems that the company failed to fit its organization and strategic growth is the failure to manage by objectives or goals. Jung (2013), asset that management by objective, in this case, signifies and performance management approach in which an organization seeks balance is sought between the long-term goals and short-term goals of the organization. The principle that Pache and Santos (2010) formulate that determines concerted objectives meant to offer feedback on the results. It is where Goetsch and Davis (2014) asset that the management set challenges but with achievable goals meant to foster motivation toward the stakeholders of the organization. In this case, the management focuses on contemporary ideas and innovation that contributes both to the long-term and short-term objectives of the company.

Poor Strategy and Execution

Martin (2010) affirms that organizations in most cases struggle to execute business strategies since it is of a predicament in developing change within an organization. Meyer, (2010), identifies that organization management may possess an elaborate plan to restructure the business for an ideal effectiveness as well as production, but fail to communicate effectively and thoroughly enough to cope. Starbucks introduced several contemporary products to augment its attractiveness. This strategy of introducing new product line alongside the major coffee, instead of improving sales of the company, it undermined the integrity of the brand, which was basically pure coffee.

Quelch (2008) adds that the company management went further to provoke competitors such as baristas who had to deal with very-more arduous menus of drinks. Some were hired by the company to customize the coffee drinks and the extra meals that were added and changed the business model as well as the initial barista business model where dialogue and social aspect was the signature of these experts. For that reason, the strategy failed to hold where the brand experience lessened, as customers could not wait longer for customization of their drinks. The strategy as a consequence hurt the premium prizes for the company’s coffee and was perceived as less justifiable for the initial grab and go, clients, they had captured.

According to Zheng et al. (2010), strategy implementation involves translation of strategy into the company’s action via the company’s design and structure, resource planning as well as the management of the strategic adjustment. According to Kim and Mauborgne (2014), during the implementation of the new strategy, the demands of the external environment should dictate the changes required in order to accommodate the contemporary strategy. Meyer, (2010) argues that it is to claim that the concept of strategy defines the different concepts that the organization management apply to attain a better performance of the decided business in which the company has variegated to, with stress on the function of the business managers to manipulate the strategic verdicts. Khanna and Palepu (2010), suggest that to win in an emerging market requires a well-outlined strategy that meets an organization’s large-scale, future-acclimatized plans for communicating with the competitive surrounding to attain the company’s underlying objectives.

Too Ambitious Strategy

No one can predict what would happen when highly motivated, visionary and charge business strategy would yield. But an ambitious idea from a well-planned strategy will develop and attain the ideal objective of the business. However, Balogun et al. (2014), claim that overly ambitious strategies tend to outstretch resources and ends up becoming complicated during the implementation or the operational period. According to Chen and Liang (2011), they usually entail a lot of goals, as well as some tendering to be simply achievable for the organization, but later on luck the capability to cope with the presented challenges. The issue is that it includes lots of goals that worsen the implementation planning. Grant (2016) ascertain that strategies and objectives get deconstructed in several goals, even if the company has managed to put together full-time staff devoted to implementing the strategy to interlink with the organization’s objectives. Such over earnest strategies end up becoming unwieldy, disappointing and ultimately unattainable.

Quelch (2008) identified that Starbucks decided to tap as many markets and customers as possible, which was an over-ambitious strategy. The company opened new stores and launched a blast of contemporary products that developed only frivolous development. Such over ambitious strategies steals the organization’s management attention off from bettering the same stores' sales on annual basis. It was a lot of effort in retailing capturing new customers, earning brand loyalty and increasing purchase in a completely new environment where one or two customers are ready to leave their initial stores to stick to the new one in town. The managers of the initial stores' efforts are gouged when a new ambitious move such as the opening of new stores in the neighborhood. It reaches a point where congestion is attained and results in primitivism of the older stores sales cripples the entire organization’s management and the brand.

Chen and Liang (2011), and Powell and DiMaggio (2012), identifies a meta-analysis of researches on organizations strategy and formulation depict that it is the effort to create, clarify organize goals as well as prepare plan of activities to be per taken in a realization of the organization’s goals in an all-inclusive or synoptic, potential and delineated fashion. Greenwood et al. (2010), claim that strategic planning normally includes a normative decision concept that outlines the objectives, information is compiled on alternatives and ramifications, later activities are conscripted and expected to maximize the achievement of the organization’s main objective. Basically, it undergoes a process that is prospective in the strategy construction outlined in advance, both the goals and the functions, and later followed by the execution of the strategy.

More studies carried out by Bryson (2018), have recorded that strategic planning that is too ambitious require to be linked with the organization’s success if outlined according to current goals as well as approaches as a criterion and consider only defined, accumulative options, seeing if the venture is better than the previous one. In this case, Getz and Lee (2011) proposes organization management should possess a clear goal, but at the same time required to not have an advance plan for how to attain the objectives. This will avoid groping around various goals with an unclear plan of attaining them all due to the undertaking an extremely ambitious strategy.

Conclusion and Recommendation

Strategic planning requires a much slower and controlled assessment of a comprehensive environment as well as a careful selection of goals to form a positive relationship between the organization and its strategies. A business strategy requires to be integrated into the culture, budget, and operations of the organization. Development of clear goals and objectives to align with the general organizational objectives offer a framework for the strategy being applied to foster the business. Thorough communication and execution of strategy to create change meant to promote production and efficiency, but most of all require a diligent analysis of the management structure of the organization who comprehend the tradition and culture of the organization thus would render a smooth shifting from product-to-customer centric orientation. Therefore, for any organization to fit with its strategy requires translation of the strategy into the company’s action via its structure and design, resource planning and most importantly the management of that strategy.

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