The Key Success Factors of ASFM are “the rules that shape whether a company will be financially and competitively successful”. To measure the basis over which customers choose between competing brands of sellers, ASFM’s services have superiority over its rivals. It has also maintained a positive diversification of all its consulting targets. Its success is based on competitive capabilities such as professional HR, up-dated equipment and financial resources. Finally, working within the assigned budget, punctual delivery and best quality, is what ASFM needs to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage.
Internal Considerations should be also measured because they are the dynamic influence of a business strategy.
The Current Company Performance is very crucial, top management should measure the company’s performance ahead of crafting the strategy. If it was a positive performance, a strategy could be implemented. If not, then another one should be adopted and measured all over again.
SWOT analysis is also important at this level. A preview of the companies SWOT shows the following:
- Caliber of the consulting team
- High-tech
- Repeat business
- Referral business
- Weak on marketing
- Short on some resources
- Fast expansion
- Being out-of-date
- Expansion without of a solid plan
- Heavy competition
- Economical situation
- Governmental regulations
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Market Share and Investment Options: ASFM has chosen to grow and build, investing heavily to capture growth potential. The firm is investing in winning markets which are in deep need for consulting. Lebanon seems to be a perfect candidate at present. Fast expansion with a well defined and solid plan is the key factor here which will determine the future of ASFM globally.
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Strategy Options: ASFM’s options for a successful strategy are as shown before, the global expansion. It has chosen to invade the Syrian market and has plans for entering the Moroccan market as well. But those plans have been postponed to the next six months since the resources are limited at the time, and the work is loaded
- The Strategic Planning process:
The strategic planning process includes five tasks that should be completed in order for the organization to be qualified for being called a strategic firm. Let’s take a look at how much does ASFM clearly apply those concepts to its whole body.
Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 Stage 5 Vision SWOT Crafting Strategy Control
Mission Analysis Strategy Execution
Goals
Feedback
- Vision, mission and goals of ASFM:
ASFM’s vision is to be leaders and innovators. They want to make a difference for their clients through continuous improvement.
ASFM’s mission statement is “We take pride in attaining total customer satisfaction by providing our customers with services of the highest quality and reliability.” Both the vision and mission are revised more frequently, and communicated through media, customers who act as referrals, and through consultants and trainers.
Some of ASFM’s goals are the following:
- Proving excellent service
- Proving quality services
- Providing professional training
- Recruitment and retention of professional staff
- Growing in size
- Innovation – avoidance of obsolescence
- Fulfilling community needs
- Satisfying social responsibility
These goals are also revised annually, and almost all of them have been realized by the firm.
- SWOT analysis:
As we have seen before, ASFM conducts a SWOT analysis as an important basis for its assessment and evaluation of strategies.
- Crafting and formulating Strategy:
“Strategy making brings into play the critical managerial issue of how to achieve the targeted results in light of the organization’s situation and prospects.” The hows of a company’s strategy are typically blends of:
- Deliberate and purposeful actions
- The needed reactions to unanticipated developments and competitive pressures
- Collective learning of the organization over time.
ASFM clearly adopts these blends by picking out well-planned actions and decisions. For example, ASFM decided not to standardize its projects in fear of losing potential customers. To craft a successful strategy, a firm has to adopt aggressive strategies in order to become a leader in the industry. This is adopted by ASFM through adopting grand strategies like Incremental Growth Strategy, diversification and Global Expansion. These kinds of strategies, if properly implemented, can assure a firm its growth, success and achievement. Last but not least, we notice that the CEO stresses the learning point of his organization. He performs incentives for the employees to learn from their mistakes and thus gain experience. He also develops contingency plans for several risks that might be encountered during the life cycle of the business. These plans are revisited locally and evaluated according to the situation. Some of the possible risks, their effects and their contingency plans at ASFM come as follow:
Type of Risk Explanation Contingency Plan
IT Service Loss Losing information/data Everything is electronic
Backup systems/Antivirus
Staff Vacancies When employees leave the Stand-by resumes/pool of
workplace independent contractors
Staff Negligence When employees don’t Second review plan/
perform well Team projects.
Equipment Failure When equipment break down Replacement laptops/
Maintenance programs.
Internal/External Fires/Political factors Disaster Recovery Plan
Disasters (Boycotting)
Loss of Income/Clients Losing cash or customers Diversify our market &
services.
Loss of Reputation Losing image before Work on PR/Extra MKT
clients cutting prices.
- Implementing and Executing Strategy:
“To implement a strategy, we need to assess what it will take to develop the needed organizational capabilities and to reach the targeted objectives on schedule.” This includes the following main characteristics:
- Allocating the resources
- Putting a freshly chosen strategy into place
- Motivating people and securing reward structure to their achievement of results
- Exerting the internal leadership to drive implementation and improve execution
When asked, ASFM’s CEO pointed out that the resources needed to implement the set strategy are financial, human resources and equipment. He also assured that a proper supply of incentives for the employees will help in the implementation process and achieve success.
- Evaluating Performance, Monitoring New Developments, and Initiating Corrective Adjustments:
Controlling an organization means that management should evaluate the performance, progress and to stay on top of all the events. Also, this involves taking the corrective action to all the processes that were going in the wrong way. A regular review of all the plans and market needs are always initiated at ASFM. They use semi-annual periodic reports and surveys on employees to monitor performance. Finally, adopting a “lead-by-example” style of leadership by the CEO completely entitles him to support his team and leading it to the improvement of strategy execution.
Following the five tasks of the planning process, trying to always maintain it and make adjustments, makes ASFM’s CEO, Mr. Mohamed Almaoui, a pure strategist. In fact, he’s the brains behind developing the overall business along with implementing plans and monitoring them. Being “the foundation for succeeding”, as he said the strategic planning process is applied to all departments which he regards as multidiscipline; Starting with the firm’s operations, to staff development, to remote locations, to program, marketing and financial planning.
Mr. Almaoui regards creativity and innovation as indispensable factors for the prospering of any business, and regards intuition and experience as important issues to improve the quality of the business. During planning, Mr. Almaoui determines the major steps necessary to move the firm from its current position to the company’s aspiration. These steps are measured thoroughly and must include all the crucial elements necessary to the plan. Being a strategist is all about commitment to certain duties and responsibilities such as: loyalty, positive thinking, initiatives, decisiveness, fairness, aggressiveness, and humbleness. These are the prerequisites for all strategists to have. Loyalty is considered to be one of the essentials of leadership. Mr. Almaoui is loyal to his departments, to the people who work with him and for him, and for the people he deals with. Being a positive thinker, an optimist if we might say, Mr. Almaoui sees through his staff all the good features, not the bad ones, and consequently weighs his evaluation. His genuine interest in them gives them a chance to prove that they can be effective and indispensable for the organization. To be utmost fair, he assembles a planning team called: The executive management team which gives virtually all managers the chance to participate in the planning process. This team consists of the vice president, senior consultants, consultants and business development representatives and directors who are in charge of approving the strategic plan. This entitles them to be involved in the strategic planning process. With this humble yet strong nature, people at ASFM feel comfortable in his presence knowing that he’s a CEO but at the same time, a human with some imperfections. Leaders should be able to make decisions easily and must have the drive and power to do things the right way. Mr. Almaoui adopts aggressive approaches towards what he wants. His thoughts and actions are always consistent and reliable, giving the whole environment a clear idea of where they stand now and in the future. Finally, a man with an initiative, always seeking perfection in the workplace, in his employees and the services his company has to offer.
Course readings, part 1, pg. 106
Course readings, part 1, pg. 10
Course readings, part 1, pg. 18
