Learning Activity - Theme 1

As mentioned last week the planning process begins with an environmental scan of the business and its relationship to vision and mission statements. Read the following and complete the activities below:

Mohammed Abul and his family own the Long-lasting Boot (LLB) store. LLB is a specialty boot store located in the downtown area in a medium sized Scottsdale, Arizona and sells a broad line of boots to all members of the family including a novelty pet line. The store sells boots for work and recreation as well as a line of expensive cowboy boots for the tourist trade. The business is twenty-five years old. It has a reputation for being the best place to get boots in the community because of the selection, quality, and customer service. They will even work with custom designed boots for people with unusually sized feet or medical problems. The boots in some instances, work boots in particular, are considered expensive by middle class buyers but the construction quality is so long-lasting that it makes the higher prices seem worthwhile. Abul, who is 32 years old and just out of the military after 10 years of service, has returned to find the business at a crossroad.

The store is successful but sales are very slow growing at the moment. The family is looking to boost sales by developing a competitive edge for the future. Up until now the business has been successful because of the company's ability to anticipate changing boot styles. In the past three years, sales have remained constant but growth has waned. Despite sales, the use of loyalty reward cards and staying open later in the evening, revenue has not grown. Yet, total sales in the Central City metropolitan area including the suburbs have grown substantially. Stores that sell in volumes like Wal-Mart and Payless have boot sales that pull in three times the sales of LLB.

Abul and his family are planning for the next three years and want to find ways to increase sales. They have come to you for advice. As their consultant, you want to cover the following ideas in your response:

• Describe SWOT analysis and discuss why and how they are used. Include a discussion of which SWOT factors are internal, which are external, and how to differentiate between them.

• Create a SWOT analysis;

• Using the facts from the case study, discuss how you determined the various elements of the SWOT analysis.

Learning Activity 2 - Theme 2 & 3

In the planning phase, managers create a detailed action plan aimed at the organizational goals. Strategic management, or what you will learn as strategizing, is what an organization will do or not do to achieve the goals and objectives that lead to meeting the stated mission and vision. Using the vision, mission, and SWOT analysis from learning activity 1, complete the following:

• Create three long term goals and objectives (3 each) for the business (2 years forward);
• Create three medium term (operational) goals and objectives (3 each) for the business (usually accomplished within the year);
• Create three short term (day, week, month) goals and objectives (3 each)for the business; and
• Create at least three contingency goals in the event that the current strategy would fail.