Importance of Strategic Planning

Final Strategic Plan 1

Final Strategic Plan

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Student'ssignature (name typed here is equivalent to a signature): ____Patricia Bernard______

Final Strategic Plan

Organizations in today’s competitive business world must include a strong and effective strategic plan. Southern Cab Service must implement such a plan that will carry the business to new heights. This strategic plan must include a mission and vision statement that will describe what the company stands for. By using a helpful tool such as the SWOTT analysis, Southern Cab Services’ strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, and trends will be identified. Another successful tool that will be used will be the balance score sheet. This will be used to set objectives, measures, and targets that can be used to help align the company’s mission and vision statement. The final strategic plan for Southern Cab Service is now in place; next stop, success!

Southern Cab Service is a family owned cab company that was created in 2009 by James and Patricia Bernard. The organization is located in Lafayette Louisiana, and will serve customers in Lafayette Louisiana and surrounding areas. The company will employ 25 drivers along with two dispatchers. Currently there are three competitive cab companies in the area who have been operating for several years. Southern Cab Company vows to bring something to the community that has never been offered by any of the competitors. The organization will offer clean non-smoking vehicles, uniformed drivers, and the customer experience that will leave the passenger wanting more of Southern Cab Service.Customers will feel like they are being chauffeured to the destinations.

Southern Cab Service has an obligation to its customers and its employees. Providing an ethical and fair work environment for all drivers is a goal that the organization wishes to always achieve. By allowing employee and customer feedback, the company will have a chance to view aspects of the company through the eyes of the employee and the customer, making changes and improvements that will help the company grow.

Values

Ethics and values must play an important role in Southern Cab Service. The organization is built on personal values such as integrity, team work, communication, performance, learning and training. With the implementation of these values, Southern Cab Service will strive to be the best.

Vision Statement

The vision statement is for Southern Cab Service to be Louisiana’s number one choice for quality cab service.

Mission Statement

Southern Cab Service’s mission statement is to provide safe and quality service to all customers in an effective and efficient manner while transporting customers to their desired destinations.

Southern Cab Service vows to create a safe riding experience for all customers. The company will reach this goal by making sure drivers have the proper training and are not overworked. The company will monitor the demand of cab service annually to determine the profit made by the company and determine whether or not to expand to a second location. Customers and drivers will be able to feel safe knowing they are in good hands. The company’s objective of quality service speaks in the company’s mission statement, allowing the organization to maintain a suitable objective. The objective of offering quality service to all customers is the law of Southern Cab Service.

Guiding Principles

Guiding principles are promises made by employees, customers, and society (Pearce & Robinson, 2005). Southern Cab Service will adhere to these principles and operate and demonstrate ethical behavior and responsibility. Southern Cab Service’s employees are a necessity to the company’s success. Employees are encouraged to give feedback and suggestions to help make the working environment better. Training and mentoring is also important for all employees. Southern Cab Service is committed to providing employees with the necessary knowledge and skills needed to perform these duties properly.

Southern Cab Service also understands the commitment to society, by providing a safe environment for customers and drivers. Southern Cab Service will be committed to providing employees with the necessary tools to encourage development. An ethical code of conduct will be put in place for all employees to follow. Employees and customers will be encouraged to offer feedback and suggestions. All cabs will be kept clean and properly maintained at all times. These principles should be practiced daily and never should be compromised.

Southern Cab Service must provide a service to the customer that will offer the customer’s best interest. Evaluating how successful the service will be in an existing market is important. The company must create a successful business plan in order to compete with other competitors in the market.

Competitive advantage is gained through organizations positioning itself through superior values. If an organization positions itself on that superior quality of service, they look to achieve that promise (Sekerka, Bagozzi & Charnigo, 2009). Southern Cab Service will position itself on a high quality standard based on services that will be provided to the customers and the excellent customer service that will be provided.

Southern Cab Services will offer state of the art GPS technology to monitor driver’s locations and to act as a safety guard for both drivers and customers. All vehicles will be equipped with a video monitoring system that will capture photos and recordings of all occupants in all vehicles.

This technology will be an expensive investment in the initial phase, but as Southern Cab Service begins to establish a reliable customer base, it is believed that customers will be satisfied and will feel safer riding in a cab with a friendly driver, video monitored cab, and a company that looks out for its customers like family.

Southern Cab Service believes customers need to feel safe when trusting another driver with their safety. Drivers will be training in defensive driver, and will remain up to date on all learning and training modules that the company will require. All drivers will have to maintain a clean driving record and will have to take random drug and alcohol tests. Drivers will also have the state of the art communication system inside every vehicle to stay in constant contact with the dispatcher. Other cab companies in the area have these but with the incorporated GPS and video system, Southern Cab Service will meet the company’s mission statement and will provide excellent service to all customers who decide to ride with us.

Effective communication is also important to the success of an organization. Southern Cab Service must effectively communicate the company’s vision and mission statement to employees and customers. To do this, a communication plan was developed to create a visual of how the strategic plan will be implemented.

Communication Plan Outline-Southern Cab Service

External Forces and Trends Considerations

The external analysis of Southern Cab Service is executed with the consideration of organizational forces such as social, economic, legal and regulatory, and global forces. Identifying these forces, and understanding them in a business plan is important to the life of a business (Rajeev & Vani, 2009).

Social Forces

Southern Cab Service like many other cab companies have contracts with social service agencies to transport the elderly and disabled in non-emergency circumstances. Requirements include for all drivers to receive training on operating wheelchair lifts and other devices that may be appropriate. All drivers will be trained in appropriate customer service. Ongoing training will be given to make sure all employees have a full and clear understanding of the importance of customer satisfaction.

A SWOTT analysis of Southern Cab Service was also conducted to gain a solid view of the businesses strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, and trends. This analysis will help identify some negative issues that the business may face.

Strength

Showing customers that Southern Cab Service can be trusted with their safety can make the social interaction strong for the company.

Weakness

In case of an accident or malpractice, Southern Cab Service will lose the trust of society. Losing the trust of customers can hurt the organization to the point of no return.

Opportunity

If Southern Cab Service follows all laws and regulations, it stands a good chance in gaining customer support.

Threat

Because social norms are always changing, this doesn’t mean that society will change. If some individuals do not want that friendly atmosphere in cab service, and would choose to stay with the competitor this could have a negative impact on Southern Cab Service.

Trends

Social changes and norms provide new ideas for the company to advance to innovative actions.

Adaptation to Change

Society can make or break a business. An organization has to be prepared to make diversified decisions and strategies for the diverse culture of social groups to reach every social level.

Economic Forces

Cab Service must pay a pre-tax to the government. The rate of the pre-tax will depend on the growth of the business (Rajeev & Vani, 2009). Some economic considerations would be taxi rates. An analysis would have to be made to determine when the busiest time for many cab services would be.

Strength

Well developed countries like the United States has a good level of economy, despite the recent recession. The United States is still better prepared than other countries if a country has a

good level of economy, this would cause less of a tax burden, which would improve the profitability of Southern Cab Service.

Weakness

Economic falls such as a longer recession, would cause the business to fail.

Opportunity

Southern Cab Service has a chance to flourish. The economic status in the United States shows the recession may be nearing its end which could be a huge opportunity for Southern Cab Service to grow.

Threat

The recession may have caused customers to think twice about paying for a cab and may chose to carpool, or take a cheaper route to their destinations.

Trends

Economic fluctuations have a regular pressure on the organization.

Adaptation to Change

To operate Southern Cab Service successfully, additional funds must be kept in case business gets slow. A successful company must be able to still operate smoothly even though economic hiccups may arise (Rajeev & Vani, 2009).

Legal & Regulatory

Any organization must adhere to laws and regulations set forth by the state and federal government (Skok, 2000). Some regulations that Southern Cab Service will have to adhere to in the state of Louisiana are requiring all drivers to obtain a Common Carrier Certificate. Louisiana Law states that cab services would provide services 10 miles beyond their parish of domicile in their vehicles and have a seating capacity of less than 10 passengers must obtain their certificate (Skok, 2000). Southern Cab Service must meet all legal regulations according to the law of Louisiana.

Strengths

Adhering to all legal and regulatory aspects would work in favor of the business. This shows that the company is following all regulations required.

Weakness

Changes in regulations can make the business amend its own business policies.

Opportunity

By adhering to all legal regulations looks good to customers who may be considering using Southern Cab Service.

Threat

If the company does not follow legal laws, the organization could be shut down, and gain a negative reputation.

Trends

Legal rules are constantly changing. As regulations update, Southern Cab Service will adhere to these updates and will create a growing trend for other competitors.

Adaptation to Change

Southern Cab Service should frame its services and policies according to the related legal regulations, and make changes accordingly.

Global Forces

There are no plans for globalization at the moment. If Southern Cab Service were to go global, extreme market research would need to be done to determine the demand of the cab service.

Strengths

The demand for cab services has grown over the years. With unsteady gas prices, consumers find it easier to pay for cab services.

Weakness

When operating at a global level competition will also increase.

Opportunity

The opportunities of global cab services will be an advantage for Southern Cab Service. The cab companies in the Louisiana area are currently not global.

Threat

Running a cab service globally may be a challenge due to already existing markets in the global arena.

Trends

With the increased level of globalization the growth chances will increase.

Adaptation for Change

Running a business at a global level will provide diversified services to customers.

Internal forces that would affect Southern Cab Service would not have an impounding impact as external forces. Internal forces can be controlled by the company, while with external forces, the company has no control.

Strategy

Business strategies are the fundamentals of an organization on which its business resides. Business strategies can help make a business successful and can also destroy one (Skok, 2000).

Strength

Fully developed strategies can be a positive accomplishment for Southern Cab Service.

Weakness

The company would have to use a large amount of its capital share which could decrease the company’s profitability.

Opportunity

Southern Cab Service can be the first cab company in Louisiana to offer innovative services that no other cab service has to offer.

Threat

If the strategy does not work the company will have to change its strategy.

Trend

If the company would develop a new strategy this would help the organization attain a competitive position.

Adaptation for Change

For a new and innovative business strategy, the company would have to hire skilled professionals to do the job.

Processes and Systems

The business process and its systems are required to be handled in a proper manner for the industrial success.

Strengths

Business processes can make Southern Cab Service’s business plan effective. The company will work on a system that will allow customers to request a cab online for assurance of a cab at a later time. The database will keep track of drivers’ logs, and vehicle information and maintenance as well as customer information and destination, rates and regulations.

Weakness

If carelessness is shown in the business, this could create a negative reputation for the business.

Opportunity

Effective business processes can create popularity for the company. Potential customers will have an opportunity to explore what Southern Cab Service has to offer.

Threat

If Southern Cab Service wants to adopt a new business process. It would be wise to get the customers consent. If customers do not accept the new strategies this could be a threat for the organization.

Trends

The adoption of a new process could become a fruitful achievement for Southern Cab Service.

Adaptation for Change

Southern Cab Service business process should be changed only if effective profitable change can come about.

Culture

Southern Cab Service is based in Louisiana which is known for its Southern hospitality. Southern Cab Service looks to express its culture to customers by offering them friendly and hospitable service.