Wirkkala’s Leadership and Market Strategy

Introduction

Strategy is a structuralized plan, which helps an organization to accomplish their pre-determined goals within a specific period. Moreover, an appropriate marketing strategy helps a business organization to improve their market share and brand image. Digital marketing strategy helps an organization to attract a large number of customers towards their provided products and services (Ryan, 2016). In this paper, Wirkkala Company has been taken into consideration. In this question, a brief knowledge about the Wirkkala has been discussed. Then, the advantages and challenges of digital marketing are also discussed in a systematic manner. Ethical and privacy challenges of Wirkkala is also provided below in brief. Lastly, a proper recommendation is given for enhancing the impact of digital marketing.

Part a

About Wirkkala

Wirkkala tends to generate fruit smoothies and natural juice drinks with more than 178 employees who have been employed in three different section of the company such as head office, factory and distribution centres. The company possess well educated leaders who are successful in developing innovative products. It has been noted that the company is quite different and are generally based upon soft values. The directors of the company are facing issues in relation to competition. This section of the study shall try to determine the leadership challenges that Wirkkala tends to face with the objective in keeping the company united in its development goals. According to the case study, Wirkkala is a UK based small and medium-size business organization, which manufactures fruit smoothies and fruit juice. The headquarter of this company is in Coventry, the UK at the same time, the main production unit, warehouse, and distribution centre is also in that place. With the help of different web journals, it can be identified that four university friends established the company after completing their graduates. In this context, it can also be stated that the company was accomplished their pre-determined goals by providing premium quality products towards their target market customers. Moreover, the company also improved their market share by providing a wide range of products. The key personnel of Wirkkala is skilled enough to make proper strategies for the betterment of their organization. The four friends are from different background, which helps their organization to take appropriate measure to overcome any business issues. Simultaneously, the four directors of Wirkkala want to run their business by maintaining social values. For this reason, the mission statement of Wirkkala is, “to make it easy for people to look after themselves and do good”.

On the other hand, in order to fulfil the market gap, the company provides innovative products at minimum prices, which helps to gain customers satisfaction efficiently. Similarly, the higher took certain steps to train their new staff and existing staff, which is one of the main reasons for low staff turnover rate. It can be observed that the four directors have an aim to recruit young graduate people to maintain the organizational spirit, which helps to create a healthy and friendly atmosphere within work premises of Wirkkala. On the contrary, it beneficial for the company to hire young graduates because they are able to connect with the customers to determine their actual needs, which will help to produce innovative products for accomplishing customer’s satisfaction level. In the early day, all the recipes of Wirkkala were published online at free of cost for maintaining social value. Hence, the Wirkkala faced legal challenges from their competitors, and then the higher authorities had been taken certain steps to redesign their business operation in order to overcome challenges. Simultaneously, the director also hired lawyers for their organization to manage legal challenges. The company also implement certain attractive promotional plans in order to improve their sale volume as well as their market share.

Leadership concept

Leadership can be comprehended as the capability of the individual for influencing and guiding a group of people. It is leadership that entails a people to possess clear vision and thus possess the capability to communicate regarding the vision of company to the team members. The leaders are also responsible at inspiring the subordinates to fulfil the goals of organisation. There is need of skills in the context of leadership. The skills of leaders can easily be enhanced with the help of mentoring and coaching. The managers of the company can be considered as the leaders in case they are capable of pursing the leadership role of management in an efficient manner. The organisations are basically developed for certain purpose (Merz & et. al., 1992). For attaining this objective, it is significant to set up leadership in the organisation.

Importance of the effective leader

Good leader is the one who tends to help the organisation in attaining its goals by making the people of the organisation work collectively. They tend to guide the employees to work in an effective manner so that the raw materials of the organisation are not wasted and are used for the production of the goods and services in a proper manner. The main significance of the effective leader has been clearly demonstrated below:

Offering guidance: Guidance to the team members is offered by means of training and instructing them in order to attain the goals of the organisation. The leader also ensures the facts that there is no deviation from the actual goals set (Millar, 1996). Counselling services are also offered to the members of the team that shall permit them to grow and develop.

Encouraging creativity: The leader is considered to be effective in case they are capable of making subordinates express themselves to bring new ideas (Gill, Levine, Pitt, 1998). Good leader is capable of leading to innovation that shall force the organisation to move towards new millenniums.

Motivation: An effective leader tends to motivate the team members by developing trust as well as confidence within them which ultimately forces the team to take positive approach towards any type of job as well as the organisation. The leaders can offer the subordinates with incentives which shall in turn make the employees work towards the attainment of the goals (Perren, Partridge & Berry, 1998).

Communication skills: it is the good leaders who tend to communicate the team verbally and in written form regarding the objectives. With proper listening skills the leaders are capable of offering the subordinates with comprehensive understanding of any types of information.

Different types of leadership styles

The manner in which the leaders tend to demonstrate their action towards the employees is known as leadership style. This actually shows the philosophy, attitudes and skills of the leaders. It becomes quite important to understand various leadership styles. The different types of leadership styles are transformational leadership, autocratic leadership, participative leadership and laissez-faire leadership (Grace College, 2018).

Autocratic leadership styles

It is the autocratic leader who actually tends to centralise the decision making as well as power. His main duties comprises of assigning of the tasks along with duties. It can be revealed that autocratic leadership tends to be based upon clear-cut direction as well as close supervision

Democratic or participative leadership

It is participative leaders who are responsible for decentralising the authority. In the context of this kind of leadership, the leaders tend to consult with the subordinates prior to formulating the plans and policies (Grace College, 2018).

Laissez faire leadership

Laissez-faire leaders tends to avoid any types of power and responsibilities. The decision making power is shifted towards the subordinates and the leaders are basically characterised as being non-interfering (Grace College, 2018).

Transformational leaders

The transformational leaders are the ones who brings huge changes in the organisation, groups. This type of leaders set challenging expectations and are considered to attain higher performance (Norwich University, 2018). It can be revealed that in context of Wirkkala, transformational leadership style can be practiced as it shall assist the company to motivate others to perform more of the work than it is intended by practicing this leadership style the company shall be capable of attaining high level of performance.

Challenges that leaders face in Wirkkala

It can be mentioned that the small to medium sized enterprises such as Wirkkala tends to face different challenges. The larger companies are basically acquainted with the different types of challenges that small firms face and are also capable of overcoming them (Adair, 1983). Some of the main challenges that the leaders of small and medium companies such as Wirkkala face have been detailed below:

Awareness of leadership

In the present times most of the companies such as Wirkkala have realised the significance of leadership. The managers of Wirkkala agree on the fact that good leaders add towards the attainment of the objectives of organisation and they are considered to be the ones who tend to increase the level of efficiency in the organisation. In case the organisation fails to possess any level of awareness about leadership, then it becomes quite difficult to attain success for the organisation. The organisation of the future demands leaders who are well trained and are well prepared to be trained, the main challenge actually lies in developing their personal skill such as leading change in the organisation, possessing capability to implement knowledge for preparing decisions, communicate change among the subordinates and among others. One of the biggest leadership challenges for Wirkkala shall be to watch and develop change.

Constant innovation

It is well known fact that innovation is the main factor that assists in the success of any business. There is huge demand for competitiveness that Wirkkala tends to face either in present or in near future. Companies tend to live in unpredictable environment and hence they are required to react to changes. The present scenario proves to be quite favourable in order to encourage creativity. There are different tools available that helps in making the process of innovation smooth. Leaders at Wirkkala are supposed to pay due emphasis upon the innovation and thus comprehend the fact that real risk actually lies in not innovating. The main challenge for the leaders in the organisation has been upon making everyone in the organisation to get involved in creating an environment of innovation where creativity is paid with rewards.

Collective Intelligence

In the present times most of the companies practices vertical structures where it is not possible for everyone to cooperate in the similar manner. However, according to the recent trends, the companies such as Wirkkala would implement horizontal models that are actually based upon collaboration. It is due to the growth of new information technologies, basically over the internet, there will be greater place for collective intelligence. The leaders of coming times shall try to work towards the improvement of collective intelligence. The leaders of Wirkkala are challenged to make the group behave in an efficient manner. Increasing number of people shall involve themselves in the process of decision making and it shall be the duty of the leaders to encourage such changes.

Metamorphosis: Leading the change

The leaders are mainly involved in performing certain basic functions such as planning, analysing and controlling. This function has been given due importance as well traditionally. Nonetheless, owing to the ongoing changes that the companies tend to face regularly, such responsibilities tends to become less indispensable. In light of the unpredictable environment, it becomes quite difficult for the leaders of Wirkkala to control in an effective manner. Hence, the capability to adapt to changes becomes quite imperative and the successful leaders shall be endorsed by the capability of transformation. Along with it, leaders of Wirkkala will be required to move between various cultures as well as business models. It shall become significant for them to demonstrate flexibility while working in organisation.

Emotional intelligence and soft skills

It can be revealed that the workers of Wirkkala shall require possessing social skills or soft skills as the most demanded skills. These types of skills become significant in order to inform and convince others for attaining the goals. Leadership shall demand these types of skills and mastering them can be considered as one of the biggest assets (Goleman, 1998). It becomes significant for the leaders of 21st century to act as a social influencer over their environment. The leaders will be required to watch and comprehend the methods of communication outside the organisation and also within.

Conflicts of priority

One of the main challenges that the leaders of Wirkkala tend to face has been to locate time so that they can attain everything that they need. It is well known fact that same amount of time is made available to everyone, but some companies tends to generate more in that particular time period while some would generate less. It is actually all about managing themselves. The problem tends to be associated with unclear priorities (Fillion 1991). For the leaders of Wirkkala to optimise their efficiency, it becomes significant to pay attention towards what they can change and affect.

Managing internal stakeholders

In this context, the companies such as Wirkkala tend to face one biggest challenge such as managing relationships. This challenge also comprises of attaining managerial support and attaining buy-in from different departments.

Regulations

In the present times, there are different policies as well as regulations that the companies are supposed to follow. For instance, at Wirkkala the inventory management software might assist the food manufacturing business to meet the safety and health needs. The large organisation is capable of including the cost of running by means of these methods as part and parcel of cost to consumers (Brungardt, 1996). However, it becomes quite difficult for the small and medium enterprise leaders. Regulations keep on changing and thus it becomes a costly affair for them and it becomes risky for the ones who are actually facing funding related problems. Food industry regulations might prove to be stifling as per inventory management methods.

Overcoming the challenges

There are different methods that the leaders of Wirkkala can easily follow in order to address the challenges faced.

Setting goals

It is significant for the leader of Wirkkala to be proactive while setting the goals and in preparing the deadlines; this shall permit the leaders themselves and the team to remain in track. The obstruction faced can make it easy to lose sight regarding the long-term ad short term goals. The leader might get indulged in dealing with any types of urgent matter that tends to take place in organisation instead of remaining focused on generating outcomes that were actually significant for the organisation (Tait, 1990). Although, it becomes difficult for the leaders of the organisation to avoid surprises, goal setting assists the leaders in refocusing upon top priorities. When the leader of the organisation set the goal, it becomes quite significant that the goal is specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timed. It is significant for the leader to jot down detailed description regarding the goals. It is significant for the leader to set targets that can be easily quantified in order to evaluate the progress. It also becomes significant for the leader to ensure that it is possible to attain the goals (Berry, 2000). It becomes important for the leader of Wirkkala to ensure the different things required such as time, resources and talent in order to attain it.

Delegating

In case the leaders of Wirkkala practice delegation function, they are likely to be quite productive and would also empower the colleagues to take ownership in case they delegate. Those who are effective delegators, they tend to prioritize their workload (Gibb, 1997). They further decide the tasks that can be kept and the task that can be delegated to someone else. They also tend to comprehend the amount of feedback that they need as the person that they have delegated to works on the task (Bass, 1990). In order to delegate in an effective manner, it becomes significant for the leaders of Wirkkala to assign different tasks to the people that match with their knowledge and skills. This implies that leaders are supposed to understand their people.

Maximising Unique value

It is significant to prioritise by paying attention towards performing the tasks that can be done easily. The tasks that are most important needs to be prioritise and other tasks need to be delegated. The main task of the leaders in the organisation has been to develop value for the organisation by paying attention towards unique contribution (Vickerstaff, 1992). By comprehending the unique values and by delegating other things, leaders are capable of maximising the value that can be created for the organization.

Attaining role clarity

It is significant for the organisation such as Wirkkala to comprehend the core responsibilities along with the secondary responsibilities. Many times, the leaders in the organisation are also required to undertake additional duties because of the unusual circumstances. The effective managers are well aware of the fact that they shall be evaluated as per the effectiveness at performing core responsibilities (Wyer & Mason, 1998).

Training

It is important for the leaders of Wirkkala to make the employees of the organisation understand regarding the issues that they are facing and thus train them by ensuring that these doesn’t takes place in the near future.

Part b

Advantages and Challenges Faced by Wirkkala While Identifying Digital Marketing Strategy

Marketing strategies help an organization to improve their sales volume, which will also help to enlarge their market share. A proper market knowledge is essential for making marketing strategies for running the business operation of an organization properly (Baker, 2014). Whereas, digital marketing helps to target a large number of customers at a time, which will significantly improve the sales volume of Wirkkala. At the same time, proper utilization of digital marketing helps Wirkkala to get customer's feedback on regular basis, which will help the higher associates to make ration decisions (Kaufman and Horton, 2014). It can be also asserted that digital or internet marketing is comparatively cost-effective than traditional marketing. In this context, Wirkkala can reduce their marketing expenses in a successful manner. With help of the digital marketing, Wirkkala is able to track and monitor their effort and performance in order to maintain their organizational standard (Taiminen and Karjaluoto, 2015). The availability of the digital marketing is considering as one of the advantages, which helps the Wirkkala to connect with their target market customers 24/7. The higher authorities of Wirkkala should utilize digital media in order to attract international customers, which help to improve their PR (Public Relation) and business relations. Simultaneously, with the help of digital marketing Wirkkala is able to interact their customers and suppliers on a regular basis to determine their needs and desire, which helps Wirkkala to take appropriate strategic decisions for meeting the increasing demands of their customers and suppliers (Leeflang et al., 2014). The result of the digital or internet marketing is measurable, which helps digital marketers to determine the loopholes of their promotional activities. At the same time, results of the digital marketing help to understand the buying behaviour of customers in an appropriate manner, which will help Wirkkala to target their market (Chaffey and Smith, 2017).

The challenges of digital marketing have gravely affected the business performance of an organization. The digital marketing campaigning can be copied by competitors, which is considering one of the biggest challenges of digital marketing. Hence, the key personnel of the Wirkkala should use copyrights on their digital marketing in order to protect their authenticity from their market customers (Kingsnorth, 2016). On the other hand, highly skilled employees are required to manage digital marketing activities, which requires lots of money. Hence, it is considering as a challenge of digital marketing. Digital marketing has adversely affected the employee’s interest rate, which has negatively impacted the performance of Wirkkala. On the contrary, it can be also asserted that the negative feedbacks on the internet adversely affected the brand image of the company, which is also considering as the disadvantage of digital marketing (Benz and Tanner, 2017).

Therefore, the higher authorities of Wirkkala should concentrate on the advantages and challenges of digital marketing before making and implementing the Digital marketing strategy.

Ethical and Privacy Challenges Faced by Wirkkala

The business organization of Wirkkala is set to implement effective strategies of digital marketing in their business. In this regard, it is essential for the management of the organization to establish the priorities of the firm for the reason to undertake decisions regarding the techniques and best channels in which to make their investment (Fortin and Chen, 2017). Also, the management should accumulate the appropriate data and form deep profiles of the customers in order to derive insight from that data and to be ready to act on the profiles of the customers. In this context, it can be asserted that, while implementing marketing strategy the management should take the data-related decisions at the right time the digital marketing will be driven towards its success with the help of actionable data (Kannan, 2017).

In digital marketing, advertising through email is utilized for the reason to distribute promotional messages and it is rapidly becoming an essential tool of advertising (Ryan 2016). The consumers of today are highly interested in the marketing that is done by emails. The email, which is permission-based, can be comprehended as an email which a consumer requests as an opt-in scheme part. In this context, it can be said that advertisers are probable to achieve greater value in their budget spending because the recipients of the message have shown great interest in the messages on a higher level. A key role is played by the appropriate content of the email in advertising the products and services of a business organization (Royle and Laing, 2014). In other words, Wirkkala’s digital marketing email content that is sent to the customers is required to be clear, relevant and at the same time targeted. However, if the content of the messages is not appropriate then it will be considered as spam or unsolicited commercial email (Shankar et al., 2016). This is an increasing problem in the field of digital marketing, which is having a considerable amount of impact on the ethics of a business organization and also for the customers because unsolicited commercial email does not allow them to access their email. This prevailing issue results in to give rise to trust issues between the marketers of Wirkkala and their target market consumers. It has been observed through various research studies that the response rate of customers to spam emails are only 1 percent whereas the response rate to permission-based emails is from 5 percent to eight percent. Hence, it can be said that despite having great advantages, digital marketing has its fair share of disadvantages as well which can have an impact on the reputation of a business organization.

Recommendations

Grounded on the above aspects, it has been observed that Wirkkala, a business organization that is striving to implement digital marketing strategies in its business. In this context, it can be recommended that an integrated strategy of digital marketing will help the organization to shape up the key online activates of marketing in an appropriate manner. The marketers of Wirkkala organization are required to plan by utilizing an approach that is data-driven in order to review the effectiveness of the existing digital marketing in the company. In addition, it is essential for the organization to customize analytics and at the same time setting up smart objectives and KPI (Key performance indicators) is equally necessary (Fortin and Chen 2017). In this context, it will assist the business organization to generate high revenues and achieve huge market growth. Wirkkala can also reach to a wide base of customers by building awareness with the help of six techniques of online marketing, which will help them to drive visits of a large number of populations to their site. The markets of Wirkkala organization should also encourage interaction on social media or on their official website, which will help them to generate leads for the future. At the same time, the techniques of rate optimization such as conversation, nurturing and retargeting should be used in order to persuade their target market consumers to buy their products offline or online (Simula, Töllmen and Karjaluoto, 2015). Correspondingly, they can increase the sales of their products and service by engaging with their existing customers. In this context, it can be said that they can bring an improvement in their personalized communications by using social media, email and web marketing.

To develop and implement and develop an effective digital marketing strategy, the business organization should select the appropriate channels of social media for their target market consumers and also reach out to the wider population. Every social media channel may not necessarily be relevant to the targeted or existing customers (Järvinen and Karjaluoto, 2015). In addition, mapping the journey of the consumers is very essential while creating a strategy of digital marketing. An appropriate insight regarding the customer journey will help the marketers to understand the progression of their customers from the stage of initial awareness to making a purchase stage. Then, the messaging can be designed by the marketers based on the relevance of each stage of their decision-making process and by further mapping it on the relevant channels online for their customers (Leeflang et al., 2014). On the other hand, it is important to assign targets, set goals, measure performance and to track activity. The marketers can make a significant amount of investments in social media platforms, online advertising and in their website but it is necessary to review and analyze these investments from time to time in order to ensure return on investment (ROI).

Conclusion

Through the overview of the above section of the study, it can be observed that Wirkkala is a small and medium-size organization based in the UK. The company manufactures fruit juice and fruit smoothies. Wirkkala has possessed a huge market share by providing a wide range of products to its customers. The company is constantly innovating their products and services at minimum prices which have helped them to reach out to a wide base of customers. It has also been observed from the above section that the sales volume of Wirkkala is getting enhanced by implementing the strategies of digital marketing in their business. However, there exists some certain ethical issues related to digital marketing faced by the business organization of Wirkkala has also been discussed in detail.

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