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Introduction Crafting and executing strategy are top-priority managerial task for a very big reason.

A clear and reasoned strategy is management's prescription for doing business, its road map to competitor advantage. it is a game plan for pleasing customer and its formula for improving performances. Strategy, according to azim premji (CEO Wipro technologies and one of the world's richest people) one must have strategies to execute dreams. In order to compete successfully, managers of all types of organization must undertake why there is a need to have a sound strategy, which focuses on managing the conduct of its business and strangthening its prospects for long-term success through sustainable competitive moves, managing each functional piece of the business, improve the company's financial and market performance and responds to the changing economic and market conditions, capitalizing on

opportunities,(Thompson el al) Company profile Comet transport Share Company is originally established on 2002 GC under the Ethiopian industry to render freight road transport service, provide maintenance, washing and gresing service, engage in tyre rethreading business , engage in dry port service management and engage in any other relates activity on the service sector. "Public Enterprise proclamation No 146/1998".CTSC provide integrated logistics service for privet and public sector CTSC the overall activities of the company shall be directed and managed hierarchical by the supervising authority of public enterprises Board of director and a managers

Overview of the strategic management process in comet transport share company (CTSC) According to Thompson et al;2012:69. The process of crafting and executing a company's strategy consist of five interrelated managerial stages:1. Developing a strategic vision of the company's long-term direction, a mission that describes the company's purpose ,and a set of values to guide the pursuit of the vision and mission

2. Setting objective and using them as yardsticks for measuring the company's performance and progress 3. Crafting a strategy to achieve the objective and move the company along the strategic course that management has charted 4. Executing the chosen strategy efficiency and effectively 5. Monitoring developments, evaluating performance, and instating corrective adjustments in the company's vision and mission, objective, strategy or execution in light of actual experience, changing conditions, new ideas, and one new opportunity. Based on the above stage of strategic management processes. We evaluate the Comet transport share company(CTSC) to see whether the company's strategic management process is in line with the requirements set or not. For the strategic planning process, CTSC builds a team which develops the company's strategies and proposes to management for evaluation. Management then evaluates the proposal. A five year strategic plan (2008-2012), whether it suits the company's competitive capabilities, provide the companies advantage to handle the existing situation or gives competitive advantage over the rivals. Based on the management evaluation, the recommended ideas incorporated in the proposed strategic plan document are submitted to the board of directors for approvals. As stared about, CTSC being Share Company under the supervision of Ethiopian privatization and public enterprise supervising Agency (EPPESA) prepared its strategic plan based on guidelines issued by EPPESA. For simplifying the strategic planning processes EPPESA divides the strategy plan in two parts 1. Incorporate the company's vision, mission ,value statement, objective and strategies 2. Corporate reform programs that enhance the company's capabilities for the future like IPMS, BPR, Kaizen, MIS and BSC. The other aspect that makes CTSC different from other companies in this sector it's that they formulate their strategies in a structured way. EPPESA evaluated the strategic plan proposed by the share company board of director after which follows the execution of the strategy.

CTSC implement the five years strategic management processes. In this assignment, we will examine each stage of CTSC's strategic management process. Strategic vision, mission and value statement Strategic vision "Strategic vision delineates management's aspiration for the business, providing a panoramic view of " Where we are going" and a convincing relational for why this makes good business sense for the company" .(Thompson et al; 2012:70) CTSC vision "Be the leader in fright road transport and integrated logistic service in east Africa" Based on the vision statement we can say that, the company vision is not distinctive and specific rather than it is generic which could be used by many companies. "Well conceived visions are distinctive and specific to a particular organization; they avoid generic, feel-good statements_ _"(Thompson et al; 2012:71) Even though the company's vision is generic, it states directional, focused, easy to communicate and flexible the service that the company it provide. Mission statement "Mission statement describes the enterprise current business and purpose" Who we are, What we do and Why we are hear"." CTSC Mission statement o To Provide fright road transport service o To provide maintenance, washing and greasing service o Engage on dry port service management o engage in any other relates activity on the service sector (Thompson et al; 2012:74)

"A well-conceived

Mission statement should employ language specific enough to give the (Thompson et al; 2012:75)

company its own identity"

According to (Thompson et al; 2012:75) a company mission statement is sufficiently description to:o Identify the company's product or service o Specify the buyer need it seeks to satisfy o Identify the customer groups or markets it is endeavoring to service o specify its approach to pleasing customers o Give the company its own identity

In our evaluation CTSC's mission statement explains "What they do", "Who they are", "why they exit" and also describes the above five issues.

Value statements "A company's values are the beliefs, traits and behavioral norms that company personal are expected to display in conducting the company's business and pursuing its strategic vision and mission."(Thompson et al; 2012:75) CTSC values CTSC's success as well as the success of individual employees can be traces to embracing and practicing the value of Honesty, integrity, hard work and customer satisfaction. Accordingly the following sets of principle are values that shape our behaves. CTSC's values statement are clarity stated in the strategic plan, which will have a contribution for the fulfillment of the strategies vision, mission and the business success as well.

Setting objectives "Objectives are one of generational performance target. The specific results management wants to achieve"(Thompson et al; 2012:76) CTSC strategic objective start in the strategic plan or more of financial performance i.e. financial objective like revenue, cost and profit. Objective related to capacity utilization and reform program. There for the company's objective is more focus on short term profitability the strategic objective, which are the company's marketing objectives and competitiveness. The company implements the BSC. Which help to balance the financial objective with the strategic objectives.

Crafting a strategy "The task of stitching a strategy together entails addressing a series of how's: how to grow the business, How to please customers, How to out compete rivals, how to respond to changing market condition, How to manage each functional piece of the business, How to develop needed capabilities and how to achieve strategic and financial objectives. ("Thompson et al ;2012:81) CTSC in this sector that is inefficient which compare to the other companies. All these makes crafting a strategy for CTSC challenging. This also implies that CTSC should address to introduce in to the industry higher technology, quality of services and lower cost of service being provide this situation when crafting its strategy which directs the company on achieving its objectives. "Masterful strategy came from doing things differently from competitors where it counts - out innovating them, being more efficient ,being more imaginative, adapting faster - rather than running with the herd" .("Thompson et al ;2012:81") According to Thompson et al in diversified companies where multiple businesses have to be managed the strategy making task involves four distinct levels of strategies

1. corporate strategies 2. Business strategies 3. Functional area strategies 4. Operation strategies It is also stated that in the case of a single-business company. The first two levels (corporate and business strategy) merge into one level-business strategy. CTSC implements the three levels of strategy-making activities. When we evaluate the strategy making tasks of CTSC, even if the company develops some bases of strategy making activities, The Company's strategies identified and activities, the company's strategies identified and stated in the strategic plan lacks some views that match the existing industrial situation. Summary of Description of CTSC strategy Level of strategy CTSC tactic description Market penetration Diversification Business strategy New service development Backward integration Justifications* How to strengthen market position & gain competitive advantage Actions to build competitive capabilities business Cost reduction Add relevant detail to the hows strategy Functional strategy Improving resource utilization Provide managing game a plan for of the business

particular

activity in ways that support the business strategy introduce new technology of Operation strategy truck ,equipments and Add detail & completeness & functional strategies

machinery and expansion of

service capacity

Provide a game plan for managing echelon specific activities lowerwith

Research and development

strategic significance

Executing the strategy "Converting strategic plants in to actions and results , tests manager's ability to direct organizational action ,motivate people, build and strengthen company competencies and competitive capabilities--"( Thompson et al; 2012:86) Executing a company's strategy has to be done efficiently and effectively. The action at this stage begins with what management will have to do to achieve its financial targets and strategic performance. The implementation process can take as long several months to several years--"(Thompson et al; 2012:75) The strategic execution in CTSC star with creating awareness /shared strategy / to the employees. This is done to make the implementation process smooth thereafter, the company fulfils/allocate/ the human and other resources which are planned to facilitate the strategy's implementation through the company's incentive program system, which is given to employees for their achievements. According to Thompson et al, in the most situations, managing the strategy execution process includes the following principal aspects: o Staffing the organization with the needed skill and expertise. o Building and strengthening strategy- supporting resources and competitive capability. o organizing ample resources to the activities critical to strategic success o Ensuring the policies and procedures facilitate rather than impede effective strategy execution.

o Installing information and operating systems that enable company personal to carry out their roles effectively and efficiently o Motivating people and tying people and trying rewords and incentive directly to the achievement of performance objective. o Creating a company culture and work climate conducive to successful strategy execution o Exerting the internal leadership needed to proper implementation forward and drive continuous improvement of the drive continuous improvement of the strategy execution processes. As mentioned above, CTSC follows almost all of the principal aspects of managing the strategy execution process thereby improving its successes. Evaluating performance and initiating corrective adjustment "-- Monitoring new external development, evaluating the company's progress, and making corrective adjustments" is the trigger point for deciding whether to continue or change the company's vision, mission, objectives, strategy and /or strategy execution method."(Thompson et al; 2012:87) CTSC evaluates its vision, mission, objectives, strategy and /or strategy execution process based on the evaluation made and if need be, make necessary adjustments to carry out corrective measures. The adjustments take a long process because it must be evaluated and approved by EPPESA. EPPESA many also initiate the adjustments based on the fact they evaluate the CTSC strategy execution of quarterly based and of there is any adjustment to be made, it is done so as soon as possible. CTSC strategy strength and weakness Evaluating the strategic managing process of CTSC, we observed the following strengths and weaknesses. Strengths o The company's financial strategies are clearly stated in the company's strategy

o the strategy of diversifying the business well fits the industry situation Weakness o The company's strategy is focused on short-term goals rather than long-term goals. o The companys strategy fails to incorporate strategies that enhance the companys competitive advantage Situational analysis CTSC "What is our present situation?" prompts managers to evaluate industry conditions, its competitive strengths and weaknesses, and changes taking place in the business environment that might affect the company."(Thomson et al; 2012:52) This section provided synoptic analysis of industry under which CTSC operates and the impacts on its activities. Market share It should be noted that other fright rode transports are the major competitors with provide better technology and technical capabilities. The fright transport is tight/higher competition on the

sector. It is expected that to having the competitive advantage by introducing the new technology, relatively lower tariff and credit seal is the strategy of market to compute the market share of the company. Financial strategic objective Service revenue the integrated logistic service fee, operational and administrative expenses and tax payable. The following table shows planed and actual revenue from services rendered during the past five years and as can be seen from the table there is similar pattern of service with that of the physical performance.

Service revenu
Salse grouth rate of comet transport share company 2008 -2012

300000

250000 200000 150000 100000


50000 PLANND('000)

ACTUAL ('000)

0 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Source; - strategic plan & performance report of Comet transport Share Company (2008-2012) Average growth rate for the past five years is plane from actual 98% thus we can understand that the sales growth opportunity of comet transport Share Company is Attractive. Financial statements The major component of profit and loss statements are revenue from operation, other income, cost of sales and administrative expenses. The summary of planned and actual profit before tax from operations for fiscal years of 2007/2008 -2011/2012 as shown in the table below as can be noted from the table the share company was profitable throughout the five years Fiscal years planed service revenue ('000) 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 13577.7 20747.9 56643.8 81379 62133.6 Actual revenue('000) 14951 44906 69124.3 59712.9 51920 110 216 122 73 84 service Performance (%)

Source; - performance report of Comet transport Share Company (2008-2012)

SWOT analysis An essential element in evaluating a company's overall performance entails examining the company's resources and competitive capabilities in terms of the degree to which they enable it to pursue its best market opportunities and deafened against the external threats to its future well being. The simplest and most easily applied tool for conducting this examination is widely known as SWOT analysis, so named because it zeros in on a company's internal strengths and weaknesses, market opportunities, and external threats. Just as important, a first rate SWOT analysis provides the basis for crafting strategies that capitalizes on the company's resource strengths, overcome its resource weaknesses, aims squarely at capturing the company's best opportunities ,and defends against the threats to future well-being(Thompson et al;2012:150151) Strength o CTSC strong financial position the last ten years o CTSC having 858 manpower consist of highly working experience and professionals workers o Biggest workshop on the east Africa. o CTSC has 10500sq.m area for container terminal service and fully equable machineries o The location of CTSC are suitable for logistics business Weakens o Incomplete marketing strategy (pricing, product development, distribution, promotion.) o weak utilizations of workshops usage

o Poor collection of account receivable Opportunities o The fact that the government police focused on agricultural and industry products for overall the economy of the country, this opportunity is to enable the fright transport services. o The import and export goods are increase every year this opportunity enable the dry port and fright transport services. Treat o 41% of the truck is old and 30 ton carry capacity is threat of company. o Introducing the railway service in Ethiopia o Higher service costs of Spairpart o Limited capacity in research and development introduce new technology to give high quality service.

CTSC SWOT MATRIX Internal Strength(S) o Strong financial position external o Beigest work shop o Suitable for logistic business Weakness(W) o Incomplete marketing strategy o utilizations of workshops usage o un collected of account receivable Opportunities (O) o Government economics police focused on agricultural and industry products o import and export goods are increase Threats(T) o Introducing the railway service in Ethiopia o 41% of the truck is old and 30 ton carry capacity TS
CTSC

OS

OW

TW

The need for change ""Every company operates in a market and business climate that is changing to one degree or another and that, in turn, requires internal operating response and new behavior or the part of organization member."(Thompson et al; 2012:448) From the analysis undertaken above, It was observed that, CTSC even though it was profitable in the previous year the managements of CTSC must be revised and change the strategy of the share company in order to improve rehabilitation scheme, marketing strategy, account receivable, fully utilization of the work shop strategy and other strategy issues because CTSC to keep the sustainable competitive advantage from the rivals. Significant factors and their future implication "Every company operates in a larger environment that goes well beyond just the industry in which it operates, this "micro-environments" includes seven principal components: population demographics, societal values and lifestyle, political, legal and regulatory factors, the natural environment and ecological factors, technological factors, general economic conditions, and global force."(Thompson et al 2012:98) The macro-environment "The macro- environment encompasses the broad environmental context in which a company's industry is situated."(Thompson; 2012:98). And for our purpose we focused on the following selected components. The legal and political environment This referred to the regulatory framework in which the organization with the share company proclamation no 146/2002 under the supervision of EPPESA to compete and perform the following action. o Render freight road transport service o provide maintenance and washing and greasing service o Engage in dry port service management

o Engage in tyre rethreading business o Engage in any other related activity The constitution of the federal democratic republic of Ethiopia (FDRE) guarantees foundation freedoms and rights, including undertaking business and own property in Ethiopia. This and other issues related to the organization has created a conducive environment for promoting and attracting the business based on the vision of the organization and in turn are expected to induce the demand for integrated logistic services .

Economy The government is committed to ensuring that private capital plays a significant role in the economy by launching the free market competition system. There is a change of reform in issue that the government can control and three have been major positive change in the government's policy towards the market economy in general and foreign investment in particular. The fundamental development objective of the country is to build a free market economy system that will enable rapid economic development. Adopting this economic strategy earn us a growing market but it would also serve us an instrument to attract central and regional government as well as other companies and investors to be partner with us

Socio-cultural "Social forces include the societal values, attitudes, cultural factors, and life styles that impact business."(Thompson; 2012:100) In addition to stable fiscal and monetary policy setting, the availability of adequate social and physical infrastructures in a country is very crucial for the business environment.

In this regard, some positive measurements are generally being undertaken by the government as part of its endeavor to stimulate economic growth and reduce poverty through education and job opportunity in the country. This development will have a positive contribution to the creation of

conducive business environment by way of ensuring a sustainable supply of skilled and healthy labor force.

Technology "Technological factors include the pace of technological change and technical development that have the potential for wide ranging effects on societies. They include activities and institutions involved in creating new knowledge and controlling the use of technology."(Thompson et al; 2012:100).

Since the fright rod transport the advantage of science and technology in the world and the spread of some in the country will favorable influence the service rendering capacity of the industry. The spread of automobile technology and GPS will create an opportunity for the fright transport industry to became more effective.

The industry environment

"To gain a deep understanding of a company's industry and competitive environment, mangers do not have gather all the information they find and spend lots of time digesting it rather ,they can focus more directly on using some well-defined concepts and analytical tools to get clear answers."(Thompson; 2012:100-101) In Ethiopia, the situation relies on local fright transport service who will be contending for fright road transport service market. The business requires relatively medium investment in addition to the possession of necessary skills and profession. As a result there has been a lot of new entrance in the fright transport service. However most of them are one-man business organization without adequate facilities. It is expected that most of them could drop out. Nevertheless, it should be borne in mind that some of them could be strong competitor to CTSC. This is particular true if they are different share company in fright rode transport service . However, CTSC with its better organization and experiences company to integrated logistics service provides could be the proffered company in Ethiopia.

Internal factors The internal factors are the resources and capabilities of th organization and we focus to assess the following issues:Financial capability The financial position of CTSC has been good since the last five years .However, its liquidity position has been affected as a result of state dividend payable to the government that constitutes 100% of its profit. Human resource Currently CTSC has a total permanent manpower of 858 .This level of manpower is expected to remain for the plan period. Training shall be provided on intervals for existing staff to update themselves. In addition, collaboration with higher institutions and researchers is vital for the organization during the strategic plan period. Service rendering capability and facilities CTSC has rich accumulated experience in undertaking opportunity, fright road transport service for two decades. It has also built a capability in undertaking dry port service, maintenance, washing and greasing and other related activity on the service sectors. Marketing and business development The need for strong and effective business development unit for service provider like CTSC it will be important to include the marketing plan at the business level strategy to help the organization stay on track of competitive strength. Hence business development and promotion tasks shall be accorded special emphasis during the plan period to promote and advertise CTSC activities to potential customer.

Recommendations To take advantage of opportunities indicated in situation analysis and promising industry market profit comet transport Share Company shall have the following strategies for the coming five years. Hence, the strategy is expected to be deliberate (Top-down strategy), Business level strategy o Market strategy :CTSC Starting in engaging has promising sustainable profit with strong completion from rival and opportunities of potential markets then, to exploit all these opportunities the company needs to have complete marketing strategy include marketing mix(Service development ,pricing, Promotion ,placing) Functional level strategy o From the detailed assessment of the strategic plan of CTSC it is found that the cost of service increasing from year to year in significant proportion. There for, the company shall give attention in decreasing cost of service on other hand introduce new technology on the coming five years

Operation level strategy o Research and development: - to take sustainable competitive advantage becoming the quality of services. CTSC need to have its own strong high standards research and development de-pavement.

Reference

Thompson, Peteraf, Gamble, and Strickland: crafting and exciting strategy: 2012: The strategic plan of Comet transport share company for the period from 2008-2012

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