Strategic Thinking And Change Management The WritePass Journal

Strategic Thinking And Change Management Abstract Strategic Thinking And Change Management ). Threat of substitutes With intense competition in the Market, there is a potential threat of substitute products. In fact, as Netflix and Blockbuster battle it out, others are gaining ground in substitute offerings as seen with Video-on-demand which has grown at double digit rates in the past two years. Bargaining power of suppliers Suppliers are likely to have less purchase power especially given the acquisition of Movielink. If this acquisition leads to more online downloads, the company will have little need for plastic cases and DVDs and as such, the bargaining power of suppliers is likely to reduce (Janjua 2012). Intensity of competitive rivalry The rivalry in the market is definitely high. Already, Blockbuster has lost many of its customers to Netflix. The company must reinvent and implement strategies that would sway back customers. How Blockbuster can realign itself to the needs of the external environment The corporate strategy would require the company to capitalize on innovative emergent technologies to provide it with strategic breakthroughs in the competitive business environment, while not losing sight of its in-store operations (Fryman 2010). As such, a click and brick strategy would be more suitable for the company. Blockbuster must realigns its business processes with IT and use it in their favour. In realigning their business processes with IT, the company must access the strategic alignment model in terms of purpose, initiatives, project leadership, infrastructure and goals that will create a paradigm shift (Carr 2010). The realignment process must enable the company to embrace online opportunities which Netflix and Redbox have already perfected. Realigning business process with IT (Kalakota 2011) Whilst Blockbuster seems to have already embedded IT into their core business model as seen with the total access program which enhances online customers experience, this has not helped much as the company has lost most of its customers to online retailers such as Netflix and Lovefilm .The failure by the company to quickly adapt to the changing business environment and consumer habits is suggested to have been the main problem. The company took long to transform its business model and when it did, the competitive landscape had already been fundamentally altered and the tradition model destroyed by the new platform model (Carr 2010). The company needs to conduct a massive marketing campaign which should focus on growing their online rental subscriber base. The company could also form an alliance with cell phone companies and arranging with these companies to allow customers to stream movies on their cell phones.   This would be a great idea considering that people have their cell phones all the time. With larger cell phone screens, customers would be able to stream movies from anywhere including in the subways, bus stations and even at workplaces. Viewing could be per subscription or pay-per-view (Clark et al. 2013). Another strategic move would be to partner with airline companies in order to implement a blue box program at airports such as the Redboxes at McDonalds (Jordan 2011). The blue box program would enable travelers to pick up a movie at one airport and to return it to another airport or blockbuster store. Further, the company should focus on strengthening customer relationship management by implementing a business strategy that maintains relevant value across all its customer groupings and introducing new customer proposition initiatives that would provide them with an edge over their competitors (Afuah 2009). Additionally, Blockbuster needs to implement an ERP system that will enable it to track their inventories. The system can be implemented incrementally from one region to another. This will reduce the time and duplications that the company currently has, thereby increasing efficiency. Currently, for customers to check out their movies from different blockbusters, they are required to register with each store individually.   Given that the ERP system integrates data and allows for sharing of information across multiple departments, this may benefit the company through quicker processing of orders and faster shipments. . Whilst recognizing the need to realign business process with IT, the company should not to lose sight of its in-store operations. Customers of today have become savvier and are increasingly taking charge of their own shopping experience (Deloitte 2011). Retail stores must equally evolve to become part of the complex relationship between the retailer and customer by providing new ways of experiencing breadth and depth of range (Deloitte 2011). In-store theatre and a touch and feel experience around the product item should be able to sway more consumers back to shopping in high streets. Provision of personalized services and guided shopping experience should equally encourage more consumers to go back for rental services from the stores. Critique of contemporary strategic management research and practice But while strategic thinking and change management has a greater role to play in resuscitating high street retail stores, such practices are not always successful. For example, while the ERP system may increase the efficiency and effectiveness of management decisions, failure of such systems may adversely impact on the organization resulting in cost overruns and supply chain problems (Morgan Smith 2002). Moreover, a strategy formulation that positions a firm in a niche may narrow the firm’s perspective (Mintzberg et al., 1995). That is, such a strategy may overlook opportunity if they are only concentrating on a certain group of market. Another criticism is that strategic planning systems are designed as top-down planning systems and as such strategic decisions are only relegated to top management (Morgan Smith 2002). This implies that the planning systems serve to fulfill only the goals and interests of the top management and not that of the organization. Strategic management is based on rational decision making. But because most of the time we have incomplete information, fully rational decisions may not be possible and change process may result in adverse effects (Jofre 2011). Hence whilst change management may be intended at increasing the firms adaptability, structures developed to promote rationality may have opposite effect (Jofre 2011). Nonetheless, it is clear that high street retailers need to realign their business processes to meet demands of the changing business environment. Conclusion There is no doubt that the past few years have seen a crisis as major high street chains such as Blockbusters, Jessops, JJB sport, and Comet among many others go into administration. The collapse of well-known retailers into receivership is a clear indication of a declining fortune of Britains high streets. All these retailers which have gone into administration do share certain commonalities. They all tend to have a significant number of stores and have all had difficulty adapting to the changing business environment and retail habits. For these retailers to continue to thrive in the industry, they must reinvent and realign themselves to the needs of the external environment. For example, Blockbuster needs to realign its business processes with IT and use it in their favour. The company should adopt a click and brick strategy. That is, the company must embrace online opportunities without losing sight of its in-store operations. The company could also form alliances with cell phone companies to allow customers to stream movies on their cell phones. The company may as well partner with airlines and implement a blue box programs at the airports such as the Redboxes at McDonald. The company may also implement ERP systems to increase their efficiency and effectiveness of management decisions. Its retail stores must also evolve and should be able to provide customers with new ways of experiencing breadth and depth. In-store theatre and a touch and feel experience around the product item should be able to sway more consumers back to shopping in high streets. Provision of personalized services and guided shopping experience should equally encourage more consumers to go back for rental services from the stores. Reference Afuah, A., 2009. Strategic innovation: new game strategies for competitive advantage. University of Michigan. NewYork: Routledge publishers Anon 2013. A strategy life-cycle: Blockbuster. [Viewed on 22nd May 2013] available from http://strategydynamics.com/info/blockbusters-strategy.aspx Anon, 2013. The death of the high street or the birth of a new kind of retailer? [Viewed on 19th May 2013] available from enterprisenation.com/blog/the-death-of-the-high-street-or-the-birth-of-a-new-kind-of-retailer/ Janjua, A., 2012. Make it a blockbuster night. 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