EvelineCharles Company: Analysis and Recommendations Essay

Memorandum

Having worked for around ten years in a beauty salon, Eveline Charles decided that she could bring something new into the world of fashion and beauty, the industry that has been evolving rapidly over the past few years due to the recent innovations. Thus, in the 1980s, the EvelineCharles Company was born. The company has been showing the signs of consistent development since it was started and is still evolving in 2014. Therefore, the life cycle of the organization lies within the range of the 1980s–2010s and will, probably, continue further. Hence, the current stage of the company’s life cycle can be defined as success.

The score of the internal analysis makes 2.17, which, according to the existing evaluation framework, should be deemed as moderate. Indeed, even though the company has a major opportunity in developing its product, the lack of emphasis on the information management process makes the organization extremely vulnerable, therefore, being a major threat. In addition, the organization clearly needs to work on the definition of its strategy for the development of its value chain.

The score of the external analysis makes 3.70, which is considered to be extremely strong based on the existing framework for the evaluation of the score. According to the information retrieved in the course of the evaluation process, decent franchising opportunities, unique services concerning equipment provision, and a positive reputation in the home market are the major opportunities for the organization.

As far as the major threats to the progress of the company in the global environment, the threat of reducing prices and, therefore, suffering losses because of the current Canadian and North American pricing strategy, as well as the need to engage in e-commerce, must be listed.

It is suggested that the company should adopt the strategy, which will allow for showcasing its unique assets, including the option concerning the use of equipment by the customers and the innovative products, which the organization has come up with. In addition, having an impeccable value chain approach, the company should definitely make good use out of it in the target market.

Entering the market of North America, as well as expanding in Canada, is not an easy task. However, for an organization as strong as EvelineCharles, it will be relatively simple to integrate into the current market due to its original approach and a perfect value chain strategy. Developing the information management approach and working on the design of the franchise, therefore, are the key priorities for the company at present.

Introduction and Overview

A member of the spa industry and the owner of a chain of salons and spas, Eveline Charles, is the head of the company of the same name. Started in the 1980s, the organization was based on the principles that Eveline considered useful when working in a similar company.

EvelineCharles has been providing hair treatment procedures since its very start and has been quite successful in the industry, despite the rapid development of the latter, as well as its dependency on the fashion industry. Having built an impressive and rather strong value chain, Eveline is going to make the company recognized in the United States and the northern parts of Canada.

A closer look at EvelineCharles will reveal that the company has not passed its prime yet; more impressively, it has not even advanced to the peak of its evolution. Nevertheless, the consistent success of the company, as well as the fact that it has been prominent for quite long in the target market, allows suggesting that EvelineCharles is currently in the Success stage of its life cycle.

Mission, Goals and Current Strategies

The key mission of EvelineCharles can be defined as the provision of the finest qualities and striving for maximum satisfaction in both customers and its staff. Herein the basis for the company’s goals lies; justified by Eveline’s willingness to improve the quality of the services and the speed of their delivery, the company’s leader is willing to expand.

Another goal and a tool for attaining the objective of a major expansion, the idea of franchising some of its goods, is a very reasonable step in the realm of increased competition rates.

Thus, the adoption of the strategies, which contribute to the consistent growth of EvelineCharles, which the owner of the company clearly considers her top priority, is an adequate step to make. However, it seems that the EvelineCharles Organization could use some major improvements concerning the information management strategy that it adopts; with the integration of the latest technological advances and the integration of e-commerce into the company’s operations, a stellar success can be attained in the target market.

IFEM

The score of the internal analysis makes 3.82, which, according to the existing evaluation framework, should be deemed as moderate. Indeed, even though the company has a major opportunity in developing its product, the lack of emphasis on the information management process makes the organization extremely vulnerable, therefore, being a major threat. In addition, the organization clearly needs to work on the definition of its strategy for the development of its value chain.

Management

• The management principle, which combines the practices learned by Eveline Charles when she worked for another company, is a major strength of the organization. Therefore, it was valued at 0.12.
• A flawless value chain, which the company’s leader has designed for the organization processes to comply with, is clearly a major strength. Thus, it was valued at 0.10.

Finance

• As a financial statement predetermines the income of a company, the fact that EvelineCharles has developed a rather strong one deems the above-mentioned detail as a major strength. The item was valued at 0.10.
• Designing a set of discounts is a minor strength, which will allow the organization to integrate into the target market and, thus, become recognized and valued in it. Thus, the item under analysis was weighted at 0.13.
• A flexible financial strategy is another major strength of the organization, which will propel it into the global market. Thus, it was weighted at 0.13.

Marketing and Service

• The strategy that helps promote new and improved services to the customers is a major strength of the company, which can be weighted at 0.13.
• A well thought out location of the key stores is obviously a minor strength of the company. It was valued at 0.06.

Production and Operations

• The development of a new line of products for men can be deemed as a minor strength and, therefore, valued at 0.07.
• The lack of a proper strategy for information management is one of the few yet quite tangible weaknesses of the organization. Seeing that entering the global environment presupposes managing huge sets of data fast and efficiently, the given factor was valued at 0.15.

Human Resource Management

The recognition of the necessity for staff satisfaction is one of the minor strengths of the EvelineCharles Company. Helping build a team of devoted employees, the given characteristics of the organization were weighted at 0.11.

Research and Development

• Eveline Charles’s ability to maintain the key elements of the company together is obviously the key advantage of her leadership style; therefore, the fact that the R&D department evolves along with the rest of the company’s progress can be viewed as a major strength. The factor in question was weighted at 0.11.
• The fact that the company develops equipment for both use and sale deserves to be marked as a major strength of the company. Advancing it technologically, it also helps EvelineCharles become recognizable in the target market. Thus, the factor was weighted at 0.10.

Other Relevant Internal factors

• The company’s idea of a franchise as the representation of its potential in the target market is clearly a major strength. EvelineCharles is planning to launch a franchise, which will be used as the trademark of the company and, therefore, allows for turning EvelineCharles recognizable in the new economic environment. Thus, the specified factor was weighted at 0.11.
• EvelineCharles’s idea of its key competitors being prime examples of what should and should not be done in the target market is a major strength. It is essential that a company should be capable of learning new and essential skills based on not the mistakes made not by its staff, but by the members of another organization. Therefore, the specified factor was weighted at 0.07.

EFEM

The score of the external analysis makes 3.70, which is considered to be extremely strong based on the existing framework for the evaluation of the score. According to the information retrieved in the course of the evaluation process, decent franchising opportunities, unique services concerning equipment provision, and a positive reputation in the home market are the major opportunities for the organization.

As far as the major threats to the progress of the company in the global environment, the threat of reducing prices and, therefore, suffering losses because of the current Canadian and North American pricing strategy, as well as the need to engage in e-commerce, must be listed.

Competition and Industry

• The target market is already dominated by a range of competitors, which can be viewed as a major threat to the success of EvelineCharles. The specified factor was valued at 0.11.
• Moderate competition rates, in their turn, are obviously a minor opportunity for the organization to find its niche in the new environment. Therefore, the factor mentioned above was valued at 0.10.
• The fact that there are very few companies that offer the same services in terms of selling and lending equipment, as EvelineCharles does, serves as a major opportunity for the organization. Therefore, it was weighted as 0.12.

Economic

• EvelineCharles is planning to launch a new franchise, which will help introduce the organization to new target customers in the American and Canadian markets. Seeing that the given step will open a plethora of new opportunities for the organization, the factor was weighted at 0.11.
• Expansion into the markets of North America and Canada can be considered a major opportunity for the organization, as it will help EvelineCharles attract more customers and become more powerful in the new economic environment.
• Expansion into the North American market can also be viewed as a major opportunity for the organization. Therefore, the factor was valued at 0.12.
• The pricing strategy that Canada and North America promote presupposes that low prices for the product in question should be set, which is a minor opportunity for EvelineCharles, as it fits the company’s financial strategies. The factor was valued at 0.15.

Social & Cultural

• The fact that the target demographics use modern media as the key tool for information retrieval can be considered a minor threat to the success of the company, as the IT system of the latter is somewhat underdeveloped. The threat was weighted at 0.11.
• Entering the markets of the state, which EvelineCharles has cultural ties with based on the links between the Canadian and the American history, is clearly a major opportunity for the organization, as it will allow for carrying out the promotion campaign faster and avoiding the possible misconceptions, which may have emerged if another state or culture was involved in the specified scenario. The weight of the factor is 0.15.

Demographic

• The necessity to cater to the needs of the new denizens of the Canadian and American population has created the premises for developing new products and creating a franchise, which is clearly a major opportunity. Thus, it was weighted at 0.13.
• The target customers can be identified rather easily, with no major cultural clashes expected, which is clearly a major opportunity for EvelineCharles. The chance was weighted at 0.14.

Other Relevant External Factors

Other organizations understanding the basic principles of the value chain approach is a minor strength, as it presupposes that the environment in which EvelineCharles is going to operate is based on the same principles of operation as the company. The factor was valued at 0.10.

Recommended Strategic Vision and Supporting Strategies

Vision

It is desirable that the company should shift towards the approach that could incorporate the significance of information acquisition, analysis, and transfer. Although EvelineCharles has been doing comparatively well, it still required that the organization should adopt a more reasonable approach towards the use of IT and modern media, especially as far as e-commerce and e-marketing is concerned.

Because of the recent transfer of a range of trading processes into the online environment and most financial transactions carried out on the Internet, it is imperative that EvelineCharles should be capable of providing its customers with the appropriate services.

Grand Strategies and Supporting Strategies

Incorporating e-marketing into the array of corporate strategies can be viewed as the supporting strategy of the organization. The introduction of a new brand and the following promotion campaign is the grand strategy of the organization.

Strategic Intent

It is essential that EvelineCharles should focus on information management. In addition, the development of customer relationships is of major significance at present. Finally, carrying out market research is desirable for identifying the key challenges and designing the means to address them.

Functional Areas Considerations

Functional area: Marketing

S – A good grasp of the cultural specifics of the target population;

S – An impressive experience gained by the company leader when working for another organization;

S – Enhanced operations of the organization’s R&D department and the following creation of the appropriate environment for designing a brand product;

W – Poor use of IT for carrying out e-marketing operations and advertising the final product to the target audience via modern media;

W – Possible financial issues in the course of development of the company’s information management approach;

O – The promotion of the brand product to the target Canadian and American audience;

O – Enhancing of the company’s influence in the target market and the further domination in the specified area as the corporate giant;

O – Acquiring some of the small and medium Canadian and American organizations in order to expand and grow economically, thus, making the company’s position stronger;

O – Attraction of new customers owing to a reasonable pricing strategy and the compliance with the requirements that the target audience sets;

O – Redesign of the company’s operations as a result of a major update of EvelineCharles’s information management approach;

T – Failure to carry out the upgrade of the company’s technology and, therefore, poor use of information concerning the target market, its customers, their demands, etc.

Action Plan/Considerations

In order to design the strategy that will allow the EvelineCharles organization to become a leader in the above-mentioned niche, an upgrade of the information management system will be required. Specifically, the company will have to adopt an appropriate strategy for e-marketing. In addition, the promotion campaign for the brand product will have to be held both via traditional and modern media.

Metrics

The success of the company’s endeavors will be evaluated based on two key parameters. First and most obvious, the increase in the number of customers will need to be quantified and evaluated. Afterward, the change in the company’s position in the target market will be analyzed. Finally, the annual income of EvelineCharles will be considered.

In order to assess the progress properly, one will have to design an evaluation matrix, which will incorporate the above-mentioned elements, therefore, allowing for general characteristics of the company and its progress. It is desirable that the matrix should be based on the Likert scale; when evaluated on the scale from 1 to 5, the alterations in the company’s operations are easier to identify, and the corresponding implications can be made with better precision.

Conclusions

EvelineCharles is one of the few companies, which have been doing surprisingly well despite a certain flaw in their information management system. By adopting a flexible financial strategy and arranging the elements of the value chain in an adequate manner, the company has managed to not only strive in the environment of the Canadian market but also aim for the American one in its recent endeavors of expansion.

Although the current information management approach can be viewed as a dent in the company’s strategy, a change in the company’s strategy towards the adoption of information technologies into the design of the company’s operations is bound to reinvent the current industry of beauty services. While EvelineCharles will have to go a long way to evolve into a corporate giant, it definitely has the potential to become a part of the global market.

Appendix

Appendix A: IFEM Matrix

Appendix B: EFEM Matrix

Appendix C: VEETOWS

Appendix D: I&E Matrix