Elite Food Services
Definition of SWOT Analysis
SWOT is the acronym for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. It is therefore, the method used in the evaluation of these factors in any form of business or project. By specifying the objective of the entity, the identification of external factors both favorable and unfavorable is needed in order to aid in the achievement of the specific objective.
The strengths, which internal chances, are the characteristics in a business placing it at an advantage over other businesses. For example, a business’ goodwill (to be well known), internal policies and marketing strategies, good employees, amongst others, are its strengths. Weaknesses or limitations, which are also internal chances, are a business’ characteristics making it be at a disadvantage in relation to other businesses. They include poor management, poor teams, and weak policies, amongst others. Opportunities are external chances provided to the business in order to any improvements beneficial to the business. They may include dissatisfied customers by the available products in the market. Threats are those elements placed externally, which could lead to the jeopardy of the business. These may include the presence of many such businesses and the lack of interest of the customers in the goods offered by the business.
SWOT Analysis of Elite Food Services HRM
The good workforce, good managerial skills from the manager and the presence of good policies in the business have contributed towards the success of Elite Food Services. Keeping the employees in the good working environment, providing them with the needed resources, training and skills and giving them good remuneration packages ensures that the business not only gets the best but it also ensures that the best are maintained. Like in any other business, the human resource department has its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
One of the major strengths in the human resource department is its large workforce. It has a workforce of more than 200,000 employees. Companies with larger workforces tend to have higher chances of being efficient and more effective in the marketplace as compared to smaller workforces. The large workforces also encourage diversity. Diverse people render diverse strategies, techniques and other factors which are of an advantage to the business.
Another evident strength is the diversity in the age groups. The department has tried employing people of all ages in proper ratios. This makes the business incorporate both the old and the young minds in its strategies. This also ensures the going concept in a business. The older generation is able to leave the business with an experienced young generation. When a business invests so much in the older generation, the business faces many challenges when all the old people retire, and there are no experienced young people ready to take over.
The department has also equipped the workforce through training (employee and leadership programs), refresher courses, inductions and coaches who help them through the initial stages of taking up new roles. Enough finances are invested in these programs as depicted in the year 2010 where $63 million was invested in this area. Training is particularly essential to any workforce. Constant updating of the latest technology, skills, strategies or any other factors that are employee related not only helps the business, but it also helps the employee as an individual. This training is not only offered to the mangers, but it also offered to the normal employees.
The normal conditions of the employees are taken care of. The housing program, high salaries, wages, bonuses, dental and the general medical covers play a crucial role towards strengthening the employees thus strengthening the business. Making their safety target be destination ZERO, they make sure that the employees are working in a harmless community. This is also a contribution to the community and the environment as a whole. In case of any misfortunes, the company has insured the employees in order to make sure that the rightful compensation takes place. The company’s low labor turnover gives evidence that the employees are comfortable with their working environment.
The business also faces its own share of weaknesses. The large workforce carries both strengths and weaknesses. It is easier to manage a smaller workforce as compared to managing a larger one. The business has to incorporate exceptionally strong and effective managerial policies and strategies in order to make sure that the employees are easily monitored. If large groups are not carefully monitored, issues can easily get out of control, which finally lead to the downfall of a business. Large companies have more need, require more resources and increased monitoring.
Another weakness lays in the diversity of the people. There are those who are likely to have physical challenges such as deafness, blindness, being crippled amongst other challenges. People with such challenges face challenges such as communicating with customers or serving them effectively, which is not good for the business. Unless these employees are taken in departments that do not deal with the customers directly, then this becomes a major weakness.
Another weakness lies in the reliance on particular suppliers for the delivery of supplies. Although this is a good practice as it allows consistency in the delivery of these goods, it is also a weakness if the said supplier fails to make an order. It is therefore, significant that people have substitute suppliers who will ensure the smooth flow of delivery even when there is a shortage of both the inventory and the suppliers.
Smaller businesses have smaller risks as compared to larger businesses. This means that a larger workforce presents more risks as compared to other smaller businesses. The risk of having an employee who has a case against the company, employee strikes and the incorporation of bad employees, is much higher in Elite as compared to the smaller stores. The fact that it has a small labor turnover means that the company is making sure that these consequences are avoided. However, this is an inherent risk and so any mistakes on the human resource’s part could lead to these consequences.
The opportunities presented to the business are based on the expansion of the business. Due to its strong establishment in Australia, the business can easily expand further to other countries in other regions. For example, its strong workforce and employee equipping also puts it at a greater advantage over the other competitors since the competitor businesses do not have such large workforces, thus falling short of effective and sufficient customer services. Customers also tend to rely on the consistency of a business. The high labor turnover of some of the competitors puts the business at a greater advantage in terms of labor consistency.
The main threats as identified by the risk management department mostly lie in the expansion of the business and the supply of goods through importation. In most cases, bigger businesses and widespread businesses attract greater and more competition from other widespread and greater businesses. By spreading to other areas, the competitors would increase and thus the competition. This also applies to the human resource department. Competitors tend to fetch good employees from successful businesses such as Elite. Additionally, there lies the increase in the cost of importing goods due to the unsteady economic times. This mostly applies to those geographical locations where there are heavy duties on the imports among other cumbersome procedures.
Organizational Structure
Chief
Executive
Managing Director Managing Director Managing Director
Department of Human Department of Sales & Department of IT
Resource Marketing
Regional Regional Regional
Director Director Director
Manager Manager Manager
(Senior) (Senior) (Senior)
Manager Manager Manager
Stores Area Managers Representatives
Stores Team
Supervisors Leaders
Staff
The executive manager of the company is the overseer of the whole business. This includes the braches in all countries. He works on behalf of the board of directors and the shareholders or the main business owners. Although most of the issues are solved at the lower levels, he has to overlook the making of the company policies and approve other strategies that may have been made at the lower levels. The chief director is also a significant link between customers and the business.
The managing director’s office is in charge of the department. The ones holding the offices overlook the functions of those offices. They also act as the link between the department and the chief executive. All policies and the major changes that need to be made are passed through these offices before being implemented. They also pass other issues to the executive department in case they are beyond their execution powers. They are mostly based at the business headquarters.
The regional directors oversee and control the branches in a given region. The other managers and supervisors report to these directors before any matter is reported to the managing directors. They oversee both employees and sales of a particular region. They are mostly in contact with the senior managers and managers, who act as a link between the regional manager and the staff at the lower level. In other cases, these directors communicate directly to the staff.
The senior managers and managers are mostly in charge on different aspects of the business. Their main contact is with the various stores managers. They have more specified jobs. For example, there can be a manager in charge of product development, IT communication, and direct staff employment, amongst others. In other cases, they work directly with the staff. This is to ensure there is a smooth flow of communication and all aspects of a business are going as intended.
The stores managers and the IT area representatives are on the same level. They are the ones who work directly with the staff. Such specific problems as IT problems encountered at the stores level are communicated directly to the area representatives by the stores mangers. In other literal terms these categories are the “eyes on the ground level”.
The supervisors and the team managers are the most direct to the staff. They manage the staff they report directly to the stores managers. They know what the employees want and what the employees are doing wrong. They also know what the customers want since the get the direct feedback from the staff. They constantly interact with the customers thus are very significant to the business. They also communicate any grievances, comments, suggestions and questions from the staff and customers to the upper management.
Market Plan
Since the company has a variety of product lines to offer, it has an advantage over other businesses dealing in limited product lines. However, more product lines require more marketing strategies and plans in order to ensure that all products are equally bought by the customers so that we do not have some products making profits while others are making losses. On the other hand, the company can make sure that the company is making a profit regardless of the products being bought. The main aim of this market plan is to make sure that the company does not only stay ahead of the competition, but to also make it hard for the movement of our customers to other businesses.
Most people like to enter a store and then come out having accomplished buying everything they needed. This is one of the main advantages of this business. With the numerous product lines, customers can enter the store and purchase almost everything, if not everything they need. Since this is a strategy that is already part of the marketing plan, the one aim of this market plan will be to make sure that all the product lines are maintained and even more to be added. This plan will be keep customers coming back and will also attract new customers.
Through a little research, it has been identified that customers are paying more concentration on subsidized prices that they are on the quality of the products. This is mostly due to these hard economic times. The marketing plan here is to make sure that the company subsidizes the prices of the most used products such as food stuffs, groceries and other merchandise. The prices of the other relatively bought products can remain the same. This reduction of prices will attract more customers thus placing the business at a greater advantage as compared to its competitors. Since the prices of so many goods would have declined, customers will think that there is a decrease in the prices of all products thus they will buy those products which have had no price decrease.
Another marketing plan includes creating more awareness among the consumers. This can be done through emphasizing on particular products or emphasizing on the company as a whole. This can be done through advertising and other forms of public relations. By advertising particular product lines such as food stuffs and groceries, customers coming to buy these products will also draw their attention to other products available. For example, banks may draw a lot of attention on one product, yet they have other products. By advertising for this one product or service, they draw the customers’ attention on the whole business as a whole.
Attracting new customers and maintaining them is the main goal of any marketing plan. This is because new customers increase the sales. Product developing will be one way of attracting new customers. Most competitors are selling the same products as Elite. The product development creates diversity. For example, making smaller packages for some food stuffs as compared to the small packages provided in other stores may increase the number of customers who are interested in small packaging. Making combined hampers is another strategy. For example, the stall can create hamper that contains the most frequently used products. This can be offered at a reduced price. This will play a major role in attracting women and other people who are used to making home shopping.
New products attract new customers. Increasing more products is another marketing plan. The business can take the initiative of adding other diverse products mostly not available in other products. However, this can be limited to particular geographical areas. For example, if stores in a particular area do not have a pharmaceutical department, then Elite can include a pharmaceutical area in its stores. This will make it all round for customers with various needs. It can also improve services and make all stores in the major cities to have the twenty-four hour operating system. However, this strategy cannot be incorporated in all stores. This is because some areas do not have people being busy twenty four hours. This marketing plan will keep the business ahead of its competitors and thus increase its sales.
Question 1- 200 words
Question 2- 1005 words
Question 3- Org Structure has 44 words (Structure words are counted as part of the paper)
Explanation has 460 words
Question 4- 707 words
Works Cited:
Swot Analysis: A Tool for Making Better Business Decisions. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Risk Management Agency, 2008. Print.
Dealtry, T R. Dynamic Swot Analysis: Developer’s Guide. Birmingham: Dynamic SWOT associates, 1994. Print.
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