Strategic Option Analysis and Feasibility Evaluation

Strategic Option Analysis and Feasibility Evaluation

An effective strategic plan will always have to demonstrate how it links the set objectives to the ways it purposes to achieve them and the means through which the plans will be executed (Mastop & Faludi, 1997). The weather company’s strategy and the associated initiatives have a name that evokes strategy by not only providing a vision but also highlighting the specific goals and steps towards that vision. The strategic plan was a three year vision to grow revenues from $ 600 million in 2012 to $ 1 billion or more by 2016 especially by leveraging on technology and expertise the company had. The strategy thus is clear and quantifiable making it easy to communicate what the strategy is and why it can work since it provides a detailed execution plan throughout the company’s divisions.

The Weather Company’s proposed 2013 strategy is consistent with its soulful purpose and its mission and vision and values since it was aimed at bettering the services offered by the company. The company is committed to providing weather forecasting services to the people to help them plan their days. The strategic plan aimed at developing better ways of providing the service through technology that could bring the weather service product closer to the customers in a more convenient package such as downloadable apps.

The feasibility and alignment component of the strategic plan was also very clear for the plan detailed how the company could take on a digital direction. For instance, by January 2013, there were over one million downloads of the weather company information thus promising better revenues. The digital direction guaranteed increasing returns since the platform was underexploited as compared to TV. The company had established base values for their product which guaranteed easy feasibility analysis and evaluation. The primary success factors that the company need to excel in future is to improve on their digital division .They have both the technological expertise and prior knowledge about offering weather forecasts on digital platforms. Integrating personalized digital media (especially focused on mobile phones) into their operations will guarantee better products for their consumers.

The proposed strategy indeed serves the company’s current and future needs of shareholder for it is focused on revenue growth and improving operations-cum-customer service. The weather company however faces a challenge in the basic elements of their strategy as seen from teamwork and a healthy organization stand point. For instance, there was cultural divide in the sense that since company operations are shifting to digital, a number of mainstream workers risked losing their relevance. Also, the CEO had at one point assembled a group of stars who instead of working as a team focused on displaying their own perceived unique strengths thus risking the implementation of the plan. There is also a measurement challenge since the proposed strategy seems to pursue so many goals at the same time. The strategy also places the company in a better position to perform differently from competitors in the industry, who are yet to embrace mobile technology for example.

The proposed strategy has a significant change within the industry for it seems to revolutionalize the way weather forecasting is done by shifting from the traditional cable Television to a more convenient mobile platform ( Zsótér, 2006). The focus in the industry will therefore be on how to better the service so that it suits virtually all spheres of life to include lifestyle such that instead of offering a product such as weather updates, the companies will now offer solutions by going beyond the basic weather information to include details on the safety measures in every kind of weather.

References

Mastop, H., & Faludi, A. (1997). Evaluation of strategic plans: the performance principle. Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design24(6), 815-832.

Zsótér, E. (2006). Recent developments in extreme weather forecasting. ECMWF Newsletter107(107), 8-17.

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