Goals are essential to ensure that the goals and objectives of a firm are achieved in an effective and efficient manner. Goals play a critical role especially in research, development, marketing, distribution and sales. The first goal of the company is to provide its customers with state of the art wheelchairs. The world is experiencing a lot of advancement in the field of information and technology.
However, not much of these advancements have been put forward to improve the livelihood of disabled individuals.
With the technology and expertise that the company contains, it shall develop state of the art wheelchairs that will assist physically disabled individuals to perform their daily activities in an effective and efficient manner. This will not only improve their productivity, but it will also increase their comfort and mobility.
The second goal of the company is to ensure that the wheelchair venture is profitable in the short run and in the long run. To achieve this, the company has developed strategic plans and policies that aim at reducing the cost of production. The company is located at a strategic location where skilled labour is readily available.
The location also guarantees easy importation of raw materials and exportation of finished products to the target market in Dubai. With these factors in place, the company shall enjoy the economies of scale, reduce its production costs, and adjust its selling price to enjoy maximum profits (Braue, 2000).
The final goal of the company is to satisfy the needs of its customers. To achieve this, the company shall develop high quality wheelchairs that conform to the needs, tastes and preferences of its customers. At the same time, the company shall ensure that the selling price of the product is affordable to its target market.
As a result, the wheelchair sales of the company shall increase and its brand reputation will grow resulting into brand loyalty hence sustaining the operations of the firm in the short run and in the long run (Spender, 2012).
Value Propositions
Our product shall aim at improving the mobility of disabled individuals. It has always been a practice of wheelchair manufacturing firms to provide its customers with reliable wheelchairs. However, these wheelchairs do not contain the latest technologies that will maximize the user’s experience.
On these grounds therefore, our product shall have a modified design of the traditional wheelchair to incorporate the sophisticated features that shall be installed. Additionally, the modification will give it a smart look. This will not only improve its appearance but it will also improve its performance hence meeting the ever-increasing demand of the market.
The wheelchair shall have an additional set of wheels behind the propelling wheels to improve its efficiency and power distribution. The wheelchair shall also have adjustable leg-rests. This will enable one design to be used by individuals of different size and ages. Enhanced sensors, communication, and navigation systems shall be installed in the wheelchair.
With the help of the camera and radar systems, the sensors shall work in synchrony with the breaking system to eliminate any chance of head on impacts.
The communication system shall be powered by two different 3G systems that will enhance the functionality of the navigation system (this will be linked to Google maps), monitoring system (monitoring the health of the user and contact necessary authorities in case of an emergency), and the weather system.
The wheelchair shall be powered manually or with the use of electricity (running on rechargeable batteries). These batteries shall be charged in the following ways:
- By electricity.
- By solar.
- By power generated from manual propulsion of the wheelchair.
The batteries shall have a long life and will be able to propel the wheelchair for approximately 20-30 kilometres depending on speed and terrain. The wheelchair shall also be fast and powerful going to the speeds of approximately 40 km/hr.
Value Chain
As it has been stated earlier, our product shall be manufactured in Australia. This is due to the easy availability of the factors of production (labour, land and capital). The proximity of the manufacturing plant to the port will ensure that the process of importing raw materials and supplying the finished products shall be easy.
To ensure that the manufacturing, transportation, marketing, and delivery of the product to the consumer are effective and efficient, our company shall collaborate with other agencies especially in Dubai. The company shall contract a clearing and forwarding agent to ensure that the shipping and clearing of the products in the ports of Australia and Dubai is conducted securely.
The company shall also contract a transporting and warehousing company to store the products and deliver them to outlets where they shall finally be sold to the consumer. Finally, the company shall hire an advertising agency to create market awareness of the product to the public.
Trade-offs
The manufacture of our product requires huge of financial investments. It shall therefore be difficult for our firm to produce such a high quality product and set a low selling price. It is with regards to this fact that the final product shall be sold at a similar market price as other smart wheelchairs within the market despite the fact that the initial goal was to sell the product at a lower price.
However, from a critical view, the value that the consumers shall get from our product shall be much higher than the price that they have paid for. The performance and features that the product has is much higher than that of similar products in the market. With this in mind, it is expected that customers shall be willing to pay extra to enjoy high quality service from the product.
The firm is willing to spend even much more on research and development to ensure that the product conforms the needs and requirements of its customers. With a high performance product, the firm is expected to develop loyal customers who will improve the reputation and recognition of the brand within the market.
Strategic FIT
The operations of our company have in synchrony to ensure that the development stages of the product follow a systematic manner from the point of its design until it is sold. The strategic location of the manufacturing plant in an industrial region shall increase the ease at which factors of production can be acquired. The product shall also be developed in stages.
In every stage of development, consumers shall be given a chance to evaluate the features of our product and give us feedback on what to needs to me maintained, improved or done away with altogether. Finally, our firm understands that ad-hoc management is the key to the success of any organization (Glazer, 2011). Therefore, the company has adopted a decentralized management system where the Board of Directors head the firm.
The Board of Directors is made up of the owners of the firm one of whom is the Managing Director. Under him are departmental heads and the staff of each department.
With its decentralized form of management, employees at all levels of management play a critical role in the decision making process. Information also flows in all directions. This form of management also encourages teamwork hence ensuring that the overall operation of the firm is effective and efficient.
Continuity of Direction
To ensure that the operations of the firm are effective and efficient, it shall be necessary for the management to hold frequent meetings. These meetings will ascertain the overall performance of the firm in comparison with the set goals and objectives. It is here that strategic changes can be developed and implemented. With the help of Porter’s 5 forces, the firm shall constantly monitor the industry as well as the market (QuickMBA, 2012).
The firm also needs to have a clear under of its internal and cKnowledge of political, economic, social, technology and legal frameworks that affect its operations are also critical (Stewart, 2011).
Finally, the firm will have a feedback mechanism that will assist in understanding the needs and requirements of its customers. All these factors will play a critical role in the success of our product ensuring the profitability and sustainability of the firm in the short run and in the long run.
References
Braue, C 2011, The challenges of asset management: Part one. Web.
Glazer, R 2011, ‘Measuring the Knower: Towards a Theory of Knowledge Equity’, California Management Review, vol. 40 no. 3, pp. 175-194.
QuickMBA 2012, Porter’s Five Forces: A Model for Industry Analysis. Web.
Spender, J 2012, ‘Organizational Knowledge, Learning, and Memory: Three Concepts in Search of a Theory’, Journal of Organizational Change Management, vol. 9 no. 1, pp. 63-78.
Stewart, T 2011, Intellectual Capital: The New Wealth of Organizations, Nicholas Brealey, Chicago.