Strategy can be defined as an outline of doing things in an organization. This is meant to bring out the desired results or solution to a certain problem. Organizations derive strategies that help them achieve a certain goal or objective in their operations.
UPS Global strategy
The United Parcel Services, which is abbreviated as UPS, is a package delivery company incorporated in the United States. The company offers transportation, financial services, and logistics to its clients who are mainly business companies and individuals on a global scale.
The company, which started over a hundred years ago, has been able to conquer the global markets. Thus, it now operates in more than 200 countries worldwide. It also delivers more than 15 million packages daily to different global locations. The company started as a local messaging enterprise operated by the 19 year old Jim Casey. However, it has risen to employ more than 400,000 employees worldwide.
The company’s success story may be attributed to its strategic global expansion plan. The company offers the best services on the market, and thus the many companies associate with its services (Mintzberg & Ghoshal, 2002; Mintzberg, Ghoshal, Lampel & Quinn, 2003). In a move to implement its global strategy in regard to its service delivery across the world, UPS was faced with a number of issues in implementing and executing the strategies.
In the early 1980s when the company was in the process of expanding to other countries, it faced some challenges in implementing the strategies. Its expansion plan was hindered by its reliance on the local marketing skills. The marketing environment in Asia and Europe was different from the local marketing environment.
Thus, the company’s management had to formulate a new strategy in the new markets. The choice of location of the company stores had to be strategically placed so as to attract and identify with new customers in Asia and Europe. The labor ethics in Asia and Europe had a different degree as compared with the American one. Therefore, the management had to come up with a new job schedule that suit the country’s specification.
For example, in Singapore, the country instituted a stiff work ethics that had no room for overtime. In this regard, the drivers who used to deliver the goods could not operate on a 12 to 13 hour shift as they did in America. Thus, the corporation management had to establish a means that can help the new stores in different countries. The corporation had to train new managers who were conversant with the local markets. This was meant to render the company a competitive advantage over the local companies (Lussier, 2012).
The company’s strategy implementation was a success. In this case, it helped the corporation to expand by opening depots in over 200 countries across the world. The customer response to quick services has rendered the company as one of the largest organizations in the world.
It has links all over the world through improved services to various destinations. The company marketing strategy has been instrumental in the global expansion campaign initiated by the corporation’s management within other countries. The company has been able to conquer global market forces.
Starbuck Global Strategy
Starbuck Corporation is an American coffeehouse that was founded in the early seventies. The founders were Jerry Baldwin and Gordon Bowker. The company is the largest coffeehouse in the world as it has more than 20,000 stores and operates in more than 61 countries worldwide.
The company deals in hot and cold beverages, which range from whole-bean coffee, instant coffee, pastries and snacks. The coffee house has experienced an extensive global expansion. It has established stores in many countries after its initial store in Seattle, Washington. The Starbuck expansion strategy was faced with some issues which made it difficult for the implementation of the strategy.
As the company continues to expand in its operations across America and Europe, it is faced with a number of challenges that tend to delay the implementation of the expansion strategy across international markets. The marketing strategies, which are formulated by the company management, are geared towards improving the quality of products in the market. Starbuck’s coffee house business is recognized through its main retail stores in the US, as well as within other countries.
The company marketing strategy was tasked with finding new stores where people access the services at a convenient location and competitive prices. The company has been able to partner with various market stakeholders and introduced new services like selling music. For example, a partnership with apple to sell music in the company stores to various customers (Wit & Meyer, 2010).
The outcome of the implementation of the optimal strategy for the company has led to the success of the company in the world market. After its incorporation in the United States in the 1970s, the founders saw it necessary to invest in more global markets and better service delivery. The corporation has been able to open up other stores in various countries. In turn, this improved the financial capability of the firm. The corporation has been able to offer employment opportunity with the expansion movement globally (Miltenburg, 2005).
References
Lussier, R.N. (2012). Management fundamentals: Concepts, applications, skill development. Mason, Ohio: South-Western.
Miltenburg, J. (2005). Manufacturing strategy: How to formulate and implement a winning plan. New York: Productivity Press.
Mintzberg, H., & Ghoshal, S. (2002). The strategy process. Harlow: Financial Times Prentice Hall.
Mintzberg, H., Ghoshal, S., Lampel, J., & Quinn, J. B. (2003). The strategy process: Concepts, contexts, cases (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Wit, B., & Meyer, R. (2010). Strategy: Process, content, context; an international perspective. Andover, Hampshire: Cengage Learning.