Organisational future

Introduction Lady Jane is found in the retail and shopping industry of Brisbane, Queensland. The company is located along Gold Coast Highway Mermaid Beach. Lady Jane engages in the online sales of beauty, health and clothing that are targeted at women consumers. Lady Jane also offers a variety of services to the women for instance forums where women are taught on various ways through which they could improve their exercise routines and diets (Brisbane Australia, 2012). The products of the firm include nutrition advice for women especially through the online forum (Lady Jane, 2012). The nutrition products include weight loss and fat burners, egg albumen, protein bars and snacks, accessories, protein drinks, vitamins etc. Lady Jane also offers clothing especially the Rockwear brand comprising of tops, shorts, tees, ¾ tights and leggings, swimwear, singlet’s etc. the firm also offers make up for the cheeks, skin, tanning, eyes and complexion. On top of the above products, the firm also offers exercise and diet programs such as tummy, hips and thighs training, healthy eating plan, better body blitz etc (Lady Jane, 2012). The company offers one stop online shopping opportunity for women. The vision is to inspire women so that they can take care of themselves, helping them to look good and to feel good (Lady Jane, 2012). The mission is to provide a range of nutritionally based products to the women, to motivate the women towards looking good while exercising and to help the women in making the decisions (Lady Jane, 2012). The competitors of the firm are grouped into three categories; those that deal with the fitness, the firms that deal with food and also those that deal with clothing. The paper is greatly geared towards establishing the future of Lady Jane SWOT analysis Lady Jane has a variety of factors; external and internal which shape the operations of the firm and thus have a general implication on the overall business continuity and future of operations. The first strength of firm includes the high rate of acceptance of the women of the services which they are being offered by the firm especially in the face of the growing health concerns of the consumers (Schermerhorn, 2010). The women were very pleased with the firm as they are able to be given the requisite information before they can commit to make the purchases. The products of the firm also have a higher level of brand recognition especially the Rockwear brand that is working in partnership with the firm. The firm also offers free delivery of the products that are purchased thus it has been greatly endeared to the hearts of the people who are too busy to do their shopping manually (Jones, G. and George, 2008). Also, the support that the firm offers to the women has been proven as a great point of endearment of the women to the firm. The firm also offers products which take into consideration the health effects of the consumers thus there are higher sales levels. The final strength of the firm lies in its use of online sales, so that the customers who are distributed in the geographical space of Australia can be able to access the products without having to travel to the physical brick and mortar store (Dillon and Griffith, 2001). The weaknesses include lack of focus thus the firm may lose out on many opportunities due to the large scope of their operations. This arises from the fact that the firm has combined three industries into one; food, health and fitness and clothing. The opportunities for the firm include those arising from the high rate of consumerism, the firm also has an opportunity to diversify its operations and also increase its usage of the technology to include its procurement operations (Griffin, 2012). The firm can also partner with other renowned women clothing makers to assert its position in the industry. The threats that the firm face include increased level of competition from the providers of products which compete with those of the firm for instance Gucci, Ben & Jerry, Nestle etc. Lastly, there have been increases in the factors of production coupled with the global financial crisis which may lead to lower sales levels (Hunger and Wheelen, 2008). Factors affecting the future of the firm This will be pursued through the use of PEST and Porter’s 5 forces model (Ryan, 2004). Political factors of the PESTEL include laws regulating working hours and the minimum wages. The politics also determines the regulation concerning health and safety thus if the firm does not comply its operations will be impacted negatively (Eastwood, Jensen and Jordon, 2006). Government policies also impact the prices especially the taxes that have led to an increase in the price of clothes. The economic situation has been very supportive as Australia is emerging strongly from the effects of the global financial crisis. The resultant high employment rate of women in the area will result into higher sales levels due to higher women purchasing power (Bowhill, 2008). The firm is also affecting by social factors such as the high number of women; who were dissatisfied with their lifestyles. The health consciousness of the consumers has also been of great help to the firm as it would lead to an increased level of sales (Fortenberry, 2010). The technological factors include the high use of the internet especially in the marketing of the products of the firm (Analoui and Karami, 2003). The porters 5 forces model has been used to determine the competition factors that the firm faces. The threat to entry is very high due to the low entry capital (Jones, 2006). However, the firm can make use of its strong brand loyalty and the differentiation as a competitive tool. The firm also has high threats of substitutes especially the firms which offer the above products in their brick and mortar stores. There is also a low bargaining power of the suppliers as the firm can easily change the suppliers when the terms are not favorable for the firm (Stahl and Grigsby, 1992). However, to maintain the high quality, the firm has to maintain its suppliers thus a considerably high bargaining power. The threat from buyers is high as they can be able to switch due to the low switching costs. Identification of the probable future of Lady Jane The firm could engage in two main activities. The first is for the firm to partner with a renowned women’s sporting brand so that the firm does is able to cater for the fashion consciousness of the various consumers. This will allow the firm to compete effectively with the other clothing manufacturing. Secondly, the firm can also engage in further providing products which contain zero cholesterol to capture the customers who were greatly concerned with their health. This will ensure that the two main issues that shape the consumption in the industry; retail, where the firm operates are met (Simerson, 2011). The two issues are fashion and the health and safety of the products Implementation plan Activity Member of the firm responsible Start date End date Costs (Approximate) Increase in the number of products which are alcohol free Product development officer Immediately A continuous process 100,000 dollars invested every two years Partnership with a renowned women brand manufacturer; the procurement of the clothes will be done through the e-commerce opportunities that the firm has. Business relationship officer To start in three years, this will allow for the talks with the new suppliers to be concluded A continuous process in line with the changing tastes of the consumers and the level of competition. Costs will depend on the volume of clothes procured. The future products of the firm will include additional highly recognised women brands such as Gucci which has been considered a personal statement of style over the many years. This will however depend on the results of the negotiation that the firm has with the different suppliers; regarding the terms of the supply and the costs of the contract. The firm will maintain its customers as the factors have showed that they have a higher ability to buy the products due to a number of reasons. There is the women’s high purchasing power, their health consciousness and the strength that the brand enjoys among the womenfolk. Bibliography Analoui, F. and Karami, A. 2003, Strategic management in small and medium enterprises, London: Thomson Learning Bowhill, B. 2008, Business planning and control: integrating accounting, strategy, and people, Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Brisbane Australia 2012, Lady Jane Healthy Living - Online Store [online] Retrieved 31/01/2012 Dillon, M. and Griffith, c. 2001, Auditing in the food industry: from safety and quality to environmental and other audits, Boca Raton: CRC Eastwood, S., Jensen, A. and Jordon, A. 2006, Business management for equine industry, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Fortenberry, J. 2010, Health care marketing: tools and techniques, Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers Griffin, R. 2012, Fundamentals of management, Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning Hunger, J. and Wheelen, T. 2008, Essentials of strategic management, Princeton, N.J.: Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic Jones, G. and George, J. 2008, Contemporary management, Boston: McGraw-Hill/Irwin Jones, R. 2006, The apparel industry, Ames, IA: Blackwell Publishers Lady Jane Healthy Living 2012, [online] Retrieved 31/01/2012 Ryan, B. 2004, Finance and accounting for business, London: Thomson Learning Schermerhorn, J. 2010, Management, Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley Simerson, B. 2011, Strategic planning: a practical guide to strategy formulation and execution, Santa Barbara, Calif.: Praeger Stahl, M. and Grigsby, D. 1992, Strategic management for decision making, Boston: PWS-Kent Publishing Company Appendix 1 Interview with manager of Lady Jane 1. What are the major macro and micro-environmental factors that are affecting the business activities of the firm? 2. What prospects does the firm have in light of the above mentioned factors? 3. What strategies will the firm pursue in the next ten years? 4. Who are the main consumer/clients of the firm? Would the firm make any changes to the clients that it serves? 5. What future products will the near future?