Crafting And Executing Strategy

The following sample essay on Crafting And Executing Strategy offers an extensive list of facts and arguments related to it. The essay’s introduction, body paragraphs, and the conclusion are provided below. Develop an argument supporting the importance of a strategic plan for the success of the defined business The Hershey Company, commonly known as the Hershey’s or Hershey Foods Company since 2005, is considered the largest manufacturer of chocolate in North America with its headquarters in Hershey, Pennsylvania. In general, a strategic plan is the process covering the defining of strategy, directing and making effective decisions within the company, as well as resource allocation decisions that fit the business and its environment best.

A strategic plan is specially designed to guarantee the expansion and growth of a business. It provides guidelines and directs the business towards the plan. This makes it possible to manage the business at an active pace while maintaining a focus on the defined goals and objectives.

As a business professional, I completely understand the importance of a strategic plan for Hershey Company. It is quite significant considering it purposes to match up the business strength to the opportunities available within the market. At the same time, it provides direction and guidelines upon which to follow in order to achieve the set goals and objectives. It can cover all areas of a business, including marketing, finance, production, and sales amongst other areas. A strategic plan brings all these areas together and directs them towards the goal of the company.

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Therefore, it is extremely necessary that Hershey Company develop a strategic plan in order to allow flourishing and growth of the business.

It turns out that businesses that make use of a strategic plan attain best results, and are in a better position to deal with the volatility of both external and internal environment. More so, the chocolate business will have a better track to follow to arrive at its defined goals and objectives without failing (Junka, 2011). To ensure things within the business are moving seamlessly from one department to the other, it is necessary to have a strategic plan. To see growth within the company, a blueprint is required which every member of the organization follows in order to realize the set goals at every level. More so, it is almost impossible to control a business such as this that incorporates several departments like a long supply chain without having to bring to them together. Strategic plans purport to do this. Thus, a strategic plan for Hershey Company is crucial to see the development and growth of the company in long-term and short-term, as well as ensure control of the whole business.

Create a mission statement for the company explaining how the mission will be essential to the company’s success. Within the strategic planning, a mission statement comes in to give a broad picture, define the business and the purpose of its existence. Thus, it provides a path through which all the goals and objectives are to be directed. Its main purpose is stating the fundamental or primary reason for the establishment of the business. Hershey is a chocolate business with its main purpose being to offer clients sweetness through food. The mission statement of Hershey in this case is “to ensure that all clients all over the whole world receive the sweetness and happiness of Hershey every day.” This mission statement summarizes what the company exists to do, its market, which is the whole world, and its future. People love chocolate and associate it with happy moments.

From the mission statement, one realizes the company aims at providing its customers with happy moments from its sweet food. Thus, workers are able to concentrate in producing sweet chocolate for the clients. Additionally, the mission statement describes the target market, which is the world. While formulating goals and objectives, the company will aim at capturing the whole world. Thus, the managers have to lay strategies for reaching out to the world. The mission statement further describes the future through mentioning of every day. Thus, all members of the organization will have to work hard every single day to ensure the world receives its sweet moments. The mission statement sets out the guideline for formulating strategies within the company. It further provides a blueprint upon which the goals and objectives are to be defined.

After defining this mission statement, the company has to communicate it to the members, so they know what the organization intends to achieve. One cannot achieve anything without a mission. Thus, defining the mission of the business ensures that the members have a clear picture of what is expected. At this point, the members are aware of the purpose of the business is to provide customers with sweet quality chocolate. Thus, all their efforts and goals are directed towards the mission statement.

Create a vision statement for the company explaining how the vision statement supports the company’s mission Unlike a mission statement that is short-term, a vision statement provides a long-term view of the company, describing its future. A vision statement provides a picture of the company in the future and communicates it to the members. It states where the company wishes to be in the future, providing a guideline for defining goals, as well. This is quite crucial in order to make good progress and growth. Without a vision, there is hardly any direction. One must have something they wish to achieve in order to focus their effort. For Hershey, it might want to become the worldwide leader in offering the world the best chocolate. The vision would be, to become the worldwide leader in providing customers with the best chocolate. This further supports the mission statement through providing a picture of the organization in the future. The vision is to become the best in the world in its industry while the mission is to provide the best chocolate. While the mission states the existence of the company, the vision states what the company wishes to be in the future through achieving its mission.

Five  key objectives for the company encompassing operational, financial, and human resource aspects of the business and justify why each of these objectives is essential to the success of the business. In order to achieve the mission and vision of the company, operational, financial, and human resource objectives among others have to be formulated. For Hershey Company, the five objectives would be, attain and maintain high operational standards, ensure optimal production by producing maximum output with the least inputs, minimizing the costs while still maintaining quality, developing human resources for optimal performance and formulating strategies aimed at achieving the set goals within specified time. These objectives ensure that the business will have a chance to grow, as well as meet the mission and vision of the company.

Attaining high operational standards ensures that the workers within the company and the operations move seamlessly to enhance production within all the departments. Without seamless operations in the company, it would be hard to achieve any goals. After ensuring high operating standards, it would be easy to achieve optimal production since workers can use the least inputs to achieve the best output possible. Development of human resources is one of the best ways of ensuring quality and increased performance. Additionally, costs should be minimized for financial benefits. Finally, good strategies ensure to provide the company with a nice move upon which to achieve the goals.

How the five (5) key objectives established support the mission and vision statements of the company as defined in the assignment The five key objectives are formulated and designed to achieve the mission and vision of the company. Without such objectives that ensure operations are running smoothly within the organization, achieving the mission statement would be next to impossibility. For instance, the objective of developing human resource ensures that the organization has top talent to achieve the goals and objectives. The objectives are designed to ensure the company is running smoothly in its operations, which focus on achieving the mission and vision statement. Thus, the business would be in a position to achieve best possible results using the formulated objectives, thus ensuring the mission and vision of the company is both achieved.

References

1. Junca, J. & Pelaez, J. (2011). Optimal Execution Strategy: Price Impact and Transaction Cost. Berkeley, CA.
2. King, B. & Saylor, C. (2012). The Importance of, and Resources for, Successful Strategic Planning. The University of North Carolina at Pembroke (UNCP )
3. Kenny, G. (2012). Strategic Planning and Performance Management. New York, N.Y: Routledge.
4. Simerson, B. K. (2011). Strategic planning: A practical guide to strategy formulation and execution. Santa Barbara, Calif: Praeger.