Marketing Strategies
Wm. K. Walthers has developed some strategies to keep the hobby customers continue buying. They have decided on ways to make modeling easier.
- Express IIITM electronic ordering system provides the dealer with a database containing information on all the Walthers stock-keeping units (SKUS). This database is maintained on the dealer’s computer and is updated as often the dealer calls in.
- Same-day shipment: Most dealer orders are shipped the same day they are received. That means an order placed today will be received by the dealer in the length of time it takes ups to get from Milwaukee to whenever they are. Regardless of the size of the shop, Walthers handles each order with speed and care.
- Walthers back order system- This system allows a client’s hobby shop to reserve new products that have been announced but not yet delivered. This is especially important for limited-run items where demand exceeds the supply. If this happens, the backorder system provides a way of prioritizing shipments so that merchandise is shipped to shops in the sequence that the goods were ordered. (www.walthers.com)
By winnowing certain products, products, brands, or customers, reprising others, and rationalizing manufacturing and distribution capacity, the company has simplified its way to dramatically improved profitability. The trick has been determining how to simplify for value without jeopardizing either near-term performance or future growth prospects.
Sales, marketing, and design staff of Wm. K. Walthers Inc. are driven to innovate, introduce new products, acquire new customers and enter new markets in search of revenue growth and market share. Managers add products, brands, channels, and customers one at a time without regard to the cumulative impact on the business as a whole.
An integrated perspective is a prerequisite for senior executives to communicate and establish their strategic priorities. For the company above it worked with the leadership team to create an Interactive Strategy Model (ISM®), which is a graphical, highly structured representation of the business model of the company. An ISM qualitatively represents the key performance drivers at each step in the value chain and then evaluates the system-wide impact of different strategies. This rolls up into an integrated financial picture of the business so the leadership team can challenge its assumptions around performance drivers, set organizational goals, and choose the most favorable strategies. At Wm. K. Walthers. Inc, the ISM helped the leadership understand the long-term economics of different growth and pricing strategies across key segments and channels.
Strategy Communication
Companies must communicate their strategies and value propositions to customers, test and learn about the strategies in real-time, and quickly adapt the strategies. The balanced scorecard has been designed to carry out the task of effective and rapid strategy implementation. The company is a fast cycle one should find the Balanced Scorecard an ideal management tool for quickly realigning the organization to a new strategy.
In an ever-increasing global marketplace, the degree to which companies can deliver ongoing value to their customers’ evolving needs, determines their continued success. Value is a personal thing and successful companies discover what value means to their customers quickly, effectively, and continuously. The challenge is great and meeting that challenge requires companies to recruit, train, develop and reward their people to deliver current and future value.
Organizational Structure
The organizational structure consists of lines of authority, reporting, and coordination as well as real and perceived career paths and decision-making authority. Organizational structure is significant. For example, the company’s strategic drive is innovation (learning) and people have the freedom to explore ideas. The company desires to dominate the market (be competitive) and people are held accountable for aggressive goals. (www.walthers.com)
The company uses valued behaviors. The company’s drive is to be an industry expert. The people are reliable, precise and are always on top of the latest skills. The company also allows taking risks without fear of punishment for failure.
A rewards and recognition system shows the company’s true intentions. Again, the assessment instrument and model address the most important ingredient in successful execution: people. By identifying their career motives, emotional competencies, styles of leadership, thinking and decision making, and communication, executives can determine if employee skills match those necessary to reach a strategy’s goals and ultimately achieve the expected results. (www.walthers.com)
As with any endeavor involving human beings, defining an organization’s structure is not a black and white exercise. Yet among the shades of gray, it is possible to identify dominant traits. These can be analyzed and gaps between the behaviors and skills that exist within an organization and those that are needed to execute the new strategy are revealed.
In finding ways to address the gaps, however, it is important to remain flexible enough to accommodate diverse needs. The most productive and creative workplaces contain individuals with a cross-section of career motives and skills.
The assessment provides the keys to this by giving managers insight into appropriate motivators, for each individual in a clear and objective way. By determining employee’s decision-making and leadership styles, organizations can make better assignments, or provide coaching or training where necessary to boost individual and team performance. It is a scientifically sound method that is very effective for ensuring that there is the right person in the right place at the right time.
While aligning an organization’s strategy; structure and human resources is a challenging endeavor- the benefits are clear. Senior managers today whether they are responsible for the human resources function or not, must be “organizational designers”.
Supporters of the organization charts claim that they are tools that can effectively delineate work responsibilities and reporting relationships. Illogical and confusing relationships will develop in the absence of an organizational chart to clarify the relationship. The process of making the organization chart charting is a good test of its soundness because any relationship that cannot be charted is likely to be unsound and therefore confusing to the organization.
The disadvantage of organization charts is that they do not recognize informal lines of communication and influences that are crucial parts of many business settings. Diagrams may paint a misleading picture of the importance and influence of various people within an organization. Individuals are encouraged by organization charts to encourage to take a very narrow view of their jobs. Job definitions imply what people will not do as well as clarifying what they will do. The result is an organization that is not responsive to change, that lacks flexibility
Reference
www.walthers.com. 2008.